Killing Time in the Seventies
by TrailingJasmine
Summary: Andromeda was born into a life of wealth and privilege. Ted was born in a two bedroom house in the East End of London. They've been at Hogwarts together for six years but barely know the other exists. WARNING: LAST CHAPTER CONTAINS DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILER
1. Prologue

_**disclaimer**: _I am not JK Rowling. I do not own these characters. Please do not sue me.

_**background**:_ I don't know what it is about Andromeda and Ted. Perhaps it's because dear Nymphadora Tonks is the person she is, but I can't help thinking that Andromeda and Ted must have been two remarkable people.

Not quite Romeo and Juliet - though I suspect that the more hardcore Blacks would rather have died than even acknowledge the existence of the Tonks family - but two innocents caught on either side of an equally great war.

Andromeda and Ted's forbidden love crossed the boundaries of that war, and they must have been extraordinarily brave to go against the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, as well as all those others who believed that a pureblood and a Muggleborn had no place together.

Albus Dumbledore told the students at Hogwarts at the end of _Goblet of Fire_ that there was sometimes a choice to be made between what is easy and what is right. I believe that Andromeda and Ted made that choice, and they chose the right path.

This story starts at the beginning of Andromeda and Ted's seventh year at Hogwarts. According to JKR's family tree, this would be 1970 (Andromeda being born in 1953). I really, really wish that Andromeda and Ted had been around at the same time as the Maurauders_ et al._, but if I'm to keep this canon, they were a year too early. Who knows - perhaps a young Sirius may crop up. Perhaps not.

Anyway, enough preamble. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

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_They had seen each other every day for almost six full years, but in that time they had not exchanged a single word._

_To him, she would have been the ultimate in unattainable - if he had ever wanted her. He knew her reputation, her family's reputation. He never even began to think of her in that way. He had no time for people like her, like her family: people who wanted to keep him out of this thrilling world of which he had only recently become a part._

_To her, he barely existed. He was below her radar; beneath her in every ancient rule that dictated her existence. She knew his face, saw him around school, in the occasional class, during meal times. But she had her own world, and he didn't belong to it. There was no room for Muggleborns in the lives of those who were _toujours pur.

_And so they continued in their way, two persons at the opposite ends of the scale, the distance between them greater than any others in the school. She had her friends, he had his. And there were other distractions._

_It was the late sixties - the time of hippies and free love, of feminism, of civil rights, but none of that really hit home at Hogwarts. A few boys grew their hair long. Some students took things further than their older siblings had done during those hot summer evenings. And a few girls stood up in common rooms across the castle and declared that they would never just be some wizard's housewife, that they would forge their own careers. _

_And who could then have forseen the outcome of those clouds gathering around Britain? That name, Voldemort, which would ten years later mean so much, was merely a name spoken quietly in front of children. A name debated in offices in the Department of Magical Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. A name whose actions were relegated to eight inches of column space on the tenth page of the Daily Prophet, beside an article advising wizards to beware of a batch of inferior quality wands recently imported from Bulgaria, and below a lengthy report on the recent triumphs of the Scottish wizarding chess team._

_No, civil rights, equality and apartheid were not topics of conversation at Hogwarts - at least, not openly. Of course there were murmurings of discontent, but they seemed to the staff to be merely the stirrings of teenage rebellion, and so were of course generally ignored._

_Andromeda Black wasn't even one of those murmuring her discontent. Andromeda was a sensible girl. Unlike Bella before her, or Cissa after her, she had, so far, fulfilled all her parents' expectations. _

_Bellatrix, the wildest, eldest child who craved dominant-submissive relationships with all she knew, had fallen in with a bad set at school, and had not severed her ties with them on leaving Hogwarts. In the summer after Bella had left school, Andromeda occasionally caught snatches of conversation between her parents. Her mother was worried; her father fiercely proud. One of the family was finally not only living by the family motto, but seeking to enforce it upon others._

_And then there was Narcissa. Whilst as strong willed as her sisters, Cissa had failed to do well so far at Hogwarts. It was not that she was stupid; no, she was sharp, and clever, but her interests lay in the more social side of life. Cissa was a networker, and had all those in Slytherin - especially the boys - completely under her thumb. As detrimental as it was to her schoolwork, Cissa wielded influence in the common room that others could only dream of._

_Romy, as she was known to her family and friends, was different. She was intelligent, a perfectionist, socially extroverted yet cautious, and had that slight arrogance which comes with intelligence and privilege. She did brilliantly in her schoolwork, with a string of Os for her OWLs, and was predicted the same again at NEWT level. A career in whatever she wanted lay at her fingertips._

_Yet the question of what her parents really wanted from her once she left Hogwarts was looming. She had a year left, and her parents would expect to announce her engagement to a suitable young man no later than a year after she left school. _

_The prospect of marriage didn't daunt Andromeda. She had been prepared for it for her whole life. She had never questioned that her life would end up any other way. But it had to be the right man. And finding him was much more difficult than she could possibly have imagined. _

_Edward Tonks - known as Ted to all and sundry - was leading the sort of life he could never even have dreamed of when he was a child. Growing up in a tiny house in the East End of London with a mother who was always ill and a father who worked long, late shifts at the docks, he had thought as a child that he would end up, like his father, working for the rest of his life. He was a bright child, but felt that schoolwork was pointless - he would rather be playing football in the street with his pals._

_Hogwarts for him was a clean slate, a chance to see a new and different world. For Andromeda, Hogwarts had been a certain birthright; for Ted, it had been an unexpected privilege. Even now, as he entered his final year at the school with the Ravenclaw prefect badge pinned to his wool jumper, he was still struck by the power of the school to amaze him at every step. He had friends across his year. He worked hard, and even played Quidditch briefly for his house, before realising that actually he preferred to watch it._

_Ted was having too good a time to think much about what he was going to do after Hogwarts. He had some vague plan to be a healer, to help people like his mother, who had died from lung cancer when he was only eight. His grades were good enough to admit him to almost all the wizarding professions. It seemed as if his life had somehow been turned around, all the empty holes filled in by Potions and Herbology and Transfiguration. He finally felt like he belonged._

_They had seen each other every day for almost six full years, but in that time they had not exchanged a single word. Six years is a long time. And sometimes opposite sides reach far enough around to place fingertips together._


	2. Two Bob

_**disclaimer**: _As before, I am not JK Rowling and I do not own these characters. Please do not sue me.

**_author's note: _**Well, so this is the first proper chapter. The prologue was merely setting the scene. So let's get on with it, huh?

Oh, and the lyrics are from _You Only Live Twice_, by Nancy Sinatra.

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_You drift through the years_

_And life seems tame,_

_'Til one dream appears,_

_And love is its name._

_And love is a stranger_

_Who'll beckon you on,_

_Don't think of the danger,_

_Or the stranger is gone._

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_**September 1st, 1970**_

"Now _who_ is _he_? Seriously, how come I haven't ever noticed how gorgeous half the boys at this school are?" The elegant blonde threw an appraising glance down the platform to where a group of boys stood talking earnestly.

"Which one? The really tall red haired one or the boy in the blue shirt? I don't know who blue shirt is." This came from an equally elegant brunette, who had her trunk open on the platform and was rummaging around inside it. "Sod it! Im, do you have any Muggle money at all? I really want a copy of _Vogue_. Really, really want a copy of _Vogue_."

"_Vogue_?" Imogen Rosier wrinkled her nose. "What on earth do you want that for? Who needs that Muggle rag when you've got _Witch Weekly_?"

"I need that Muggle rag, as you so nicely put it. Please, don't you have any at all?"

"Of course not, what do you take me for? I've never touched so much as a coin of it in my life. Now tell me, who's the tall red haired boy?"

Andromeda Black frowned. She really wanted that magazine. She knew what her friends would think - a _Muggle magazine_, of all things. But she'd borrowed a copy of it from a Hufflepuff Muggleborn the previous winter. They'd been in the infirmary together, very bored, and she had become hooked. The strange Muggle fashions, the beauty routines, the society stories... she loved it.

Whenever Miranda had received a copy for the rest of the year, Andromeda had been the first to receive it once Miranda was finished. The summer had been a drought without it; and now her parents were gone, Andromeda was desperate to run to one of the Muggle newsagents in the station and grab a copy.

She looked in the direction of the boys. "Your red headed friend is Gideon Prewett. Our year, Ravenclaw. Very talented, straight Os, wants to be an Auror. He was in Potions with me last year. You remember Molly Prewett? Left last year, engaged to Arthur Weasley? She's his sister."

"God, he's related to the Weasleys?" Imogen sniffed. "Oh, it doesn't matter. He's handsome enough for it not to matter that he's related to half the blood traitors in this world." She looked down at Andromeda, who was closing her trunk with an annoyed expression on her face. "If you're after Muggle money, go and talk to his friend."

Andromeda looked up again, towards the blue shirted boy. "Who's he, then?"

"Ted Tonks," Imogen sneered. "Muggleborn. Common as dirt. Hey, I was only joking!" She hastily followed Andromeda, who had set off determinedly in the direction of Gideon and Ted.

"Hi, Gid," she said breathlessly as she came up to the boys. "Good summer?" Without waiting for a reply, she turned to Ted. "Could I ask you for a favour?"

Edward Tonks knew who she was, of course. Everybody at Hogwarts knew the Blacks, by reputation alone. And the three Black sisters were famed above the others for their beauty, their intelligence, and their slightly mad ways. "Erm... alright," he said, throwing Gideon a look.

"You're a Muggleborn, right?" Andromeda asked. Ted nodded, and wondered suddenly if she was going to hex him. There were a fair few Muggleborns who had been on the receiving end of malicious spells over the last year. Not that he would mind being on the end of a hex from this girl. She was as beautiful as the rest of her sisters. "Oh, fantastic," Andromeda said. "I was wondering if I could borrow... what's it called... two bob?"

"Two bob... you mean two shillings?" Andromeda nodded eagerly. Ted was slightly bemused. "What on earth do you need two bob for?"

"It's for a magazine," Andromeda breathed. "A Muggle magazine. Please? I'll pay you back double in our money - I mean, wizarding money."

Ted wavered for a moment. His father had pressed a whole crown into his hand only ten minutes earlier, telling him to spend it wisely. But... oh, what could he really do?

"Of course," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the coin. Then a thought occurred to him. "Look, do you want me to come with you? I know sometimes..." He leaned a little closer to her. "I've seen Gid trying to buy stuff in Muggle shops, completely useless. I'll come and help you."

As they walked across the station, nobody paid any attention to them. Ted guided Andromeda to a newsagent's stand, and after she'd pointed out the copy of Vogue behind the counter, the cheerful old lady took Ted's crown and gave him his change, then handed the magazine to Andromeda. "In't that nice?" she chirped in a thick Cockney accent. "Buying your girl a mag? I wish my husband would do that, oh I wish he would!"

"She's not..." "He's not..." Both Ted and Andromeda exclaimed at the same time, and turned to each other and smiled. There was no confusion, was there?

When they got back to Platform 9¾, there was a brief, awkward pause. Then Andromeda smiled at Ted. "Thanks. I suppose... I suppose I'll see you around at school."

"My pleasure," Ted smiled back. "See you around." Andromeda nodded, and just as it was all becoming a bit too awkward, she turned on her heel and walked off. Ted stared after her, and for no reason at all, he sighed. Then he went back to where he had left the others, and picked up his trunk to load it up onto the train.


	3. Points of View

_**a/n**: _Thanks for all the reviews! It makes writing so much easier when you know that people want you to write it. Only one comment for a reviewer: Ted is definitely a Muggleborn - Sirius mentions it during the chapter "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black" in the Order of the Phoenix. I thought Ted was a Muggle too until I came across several fics saying he was a Muggleborn - then I read OotP again and realised my mistake!

We're still in early days. Have patience; this chapter's a little dark, but it's the early days of the First War, and much like the early days of the Second, a lot of ground has to be covered about who's on which side, and what they believe in. We'll get there. Promise! Lyrics from _Shiver_ by Coldplay.

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_So I look in your direction,_

_But you pay me no attention, do you._

_I know you don't listen to me._

_'cause you say you see straight me, don't you;_

_And oh, from the moment I wake,_

_To the moment I sleep,_

_I'll be there by your side,_

_Just you try and stop me,_

_I'll be waiting in line,_

_Just to see if you care;_

_Did you want me to change?_

_Well I changed for good_

_And I want you to know_

_That you'll always get your way_

_I wanted to say,_

_Don't you shiver._

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"Andromeda Black! I cannot believe you!" Imogen exclaimed, as her best friend arrived at the compartment. "You just went off with that boy, that Mudblood..."

"Don't say that word!" Andromeda snapped, and Imogen looked at her in astonishment. "I'm not kidding. Nobody - least of all him - deserves that word, Im, and you know it. He just bought me what I wanted most, so don't insult him in front of me."

"Oooh, Miss High-and-Mighty, are we? You used to call people Mudbloods, I seem to remember!" Imogen retorted.

"It was before I knew better," Andromeda said wearily. "It was a long time ago. I wouldn't dream of using that word now." She glanced at Imogen. "You know full well that I have plenty of halfblood and Muggleborn friends - we all do."

"You might, perhaps. Some of us don't." Imogen said, gazing critically at a fingernail. "Damn, I've chipped the polish on this one already! I don't know why I bother to pay for manicures; that silly little shop on Diagon Alley charges ten sickles when I can do it for free myself!"

"What do you mean, some of us?" Andromeda asked slowly, not trying to make too much of a deal out of it. She knew that the wizarding world was changing, but she didn't want to seem too inquisitive. There was something big going on, but it was like a member's only club: asking about how to gain admittance was the certain way to guarantee that you would never be part of it.

To be fair, Andromeda didn't want to be part of it. But she wanted to know what was going on - what exactly it was that her sister Bella was up to. She had heard whisperings from her parents; she knew it had something to do with blood purity. But hadn't those arguments been bubbling under for years? Why was it all surfacing now? She'd heard a name spoken under her father's breath, repeated by her mother... _Voldemort_. Who was he, and what did he want?

And Imogen seemed to know. "What do you mean, some of us don't?" Andromeda asked Imogen carefully.

"Oh, you know," Imogen said, deliberately flippant. "All these people, waking up to all these new ideas." She paused, and then smiled slightly. "Well, not all of them new. Some of them. Surely you know? You, of all people, coming from your family?" The word _family_ was a pointed, barbed arrow headed straight at Andromeda.

"No, I don't _know_," she said crossly, but just as Imogen opened her mouth, the compartment door opened.

"Anything from the trolley, dearies?" It was the old witch who pushed the refreshments trolley up and down the train. Andromeda groaned. There was only one way to maintain her slender frame, and that was to brush aside all offers of anything sweet. But before she could say anything, Imogen spoke.

"Why would we buy anything at all from you, you old hag? You filthy Squib! Get lost." She slammed the door shut in front of the old witch, who looked for a few moments utterly dazed, and then a hurt expression crossed her face.

"Imogen!" Andromeda exclaimed. "_How could you?_ What on earth did you mean by that?"

"People like her have no place in our world," Imogen said ruthlessly. "Father says so, and Mother agrees. Squibs and their lot shouldn't even be allowed near us normal wizards."

"But dozens of wizarding families have Squibs!" Andromeda exclaimed. "Yes, it's a terrible thing, but you can't just shove them out, Imogen!"

"Why not?" Imogen said, her lip curling. Wisely, perhaps, Andromeda chose to let it lie. But Imogen continued.

"It's not only Squibs. It's the... it's the others, Romy. _Muggleborns_. _Mudbloods_. People like that Edward Tonks. They're filth. They're taking up our world, they're taking over. Somebody has to make a stand." Andromeda stared aghast at the girl who had so recently seemed like her best friend.

"You're talking nonsense, Immy! You mean... what do you mean?"

"They should be... they should be removed from society," Imogen said, her face flushed.

"And what would happen to them then?" Andromeda almost shouted. "What would happen then?" Imogen suddenly looked utterly confused, and Andromeda knew she had found some weak spot, and triumphant, was about to go in to utterly destroy Imogen's argument.

Then suddenly she remembered something, and closed her mouth. An alarm bell began to clang faintly in her head. Muggle Studies, the year of her OWLS. About four or five lessons on _Recent Muggle History_. Something about the war which had just taken place between several Muggle nations, and about discrimination. Discrimination between Muggles, between one type and another. Oh, what had they been called?

A terrible chill crept up over Andromeda. She felt first ill, as if she might be sick, and then dizzy. Some great trial was ahead of them - ahead of them all. As the Hogwarts Express sped northwards, Andromeda opened her copy of _Vogue_. But she wasn't reading the society articles, or drinking in the fashion spreads.

Instead she was thinking about that regime which had begun in Central Europe a little under thirty years before, a regime which had first marked out some from the rest; then imprisoned the separated, and then finally killed them. Surely it would not come to that? Surely the wizarding world would not come to that?


	4. A Visual Feast

**_author's note_: **Again, thanks for the reviews. I always enjoy getting them, and seeing other people's opinions; it helps that they're mostly positive so far!

Couple of responses to reviewers (actually I think they're entirely to **Loki Mischeif-Maker**, but never mind!).

Andromeda is the only daughter who has _entirely_ fulfilled her parents' expectations_ so far _(note italics!). Bella, whilst she has recently begun to make her father proud, wasn't a source of pride prior to the summer after she left school; though her engagement to Lestrange (coming up soon!) will almost certainly propel her into position of favourite daughter.

As for _Vogue_ - Andromeda doesn't really read _Vogue_ as an insight into the world of fashion. She's more interested in the information it gives her about Muggle culture; she's sort of an anthropologist in that respect. All the Black sisters are intelligent, but in different ways: Andromeda is the most inquisitive of them, certainly, and perhaps the most focused on her schoolwork.

It's not entirely certain that Andromeda was born in 1953- but with Bellatrix in 1951, and Narcissa in 1955, I think that bringing her down smack in the middle is probably the best idea. JK may correct that in future, but until then, I think 1953 is the safest bet.

And finally apologies for repetition - that was due to desperately writing that chapter late at night after inspiration had struck and I just had to get it out of my system!

OK, so we're still setting the scene here. But at least Andromeda and Ted both know that the other exists. And yes, I know we've only got as far as the start of term feast. As before, bear with me!

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Ted always loved the start of term feast. For him, whilst the excitement of returning to Hogwarts began to grow as soon as he arrived at Platform 9¾, it was at the feast, with the Sorting, the delicious food (so much better than anything he got at home) and surrounded by his friends, that term really began.

He even enjoyed the speech by Professor Dippet, though it was the same every year. But this year was the start of a new era: Professor Dippet had retired, and the Transfiguration teacher, Professor Dumbledore, had been appointed in his place. Ted liked Dumbledore - he was fair, and though he seemed to know about every single piece of mischief that was being planned, he let all but the most damaging go ahead. Dumbledore was the reason, Ted reflected, that he had got an O in his Transfiguration OWL, and the reason why he was taking it for NEWT.

And so Ted sat back on the Ravenclaw table between Gideon and another Muggleborn, Sam Yates, and prepared to let it all just wash over him. Then he glanced across to the Slytherin table, and saw her. The girl he'd bought a magazine for at King's Cross. Andromeda Black. But far from being the smiling, laughing girl he remembered from the platform, she now looked utterly miserable. She was sitting bolt upright, her head held high and proud, but she looked... as if she'd had some really bad news, or something.

He stared at her for a long time, almost without meaning to. It wasn't hard; Andromeda had a beautiful face, heart shaped with smooth, almost carved angles. Then he heard Gideon's voice, laughing, swimming up to him. "Ted? Ted! Come back! Come back to us!" For another second, Ted stared over to her, and then reluctantly turned to face Gideon.

"Yeah, what?" he said, a little defensively.  
"Where exactly were you?" Gideon said, a smile creeping up his face. "You looked very happy, wherever you were."  
"I was just..." Ted struggled for a moment. "I was just looking...""You, mate, were "just looking" at a Black." Sam chuckled. "There's no "just looking" with those girls."

"I loaned her two bob for a magazine," Ted said shortly, "and she hasn't paid me back. That's all." When Sam and Gideon raised eyebrows and looked at each other, Ted shrugged in the most relaxed way he could manage. "Seriously, would I even think of getting involved with someone like her? With her family's reputation?"  
"You'd be an idiot, mate," Gideon concluded. "And we all know you're anything but an idiot. Right?"  
"Right," Ted nodded, but couldn't resist glancing back across towards Andromeda. She was looking straight at him, and when she saw him looking back, she smiled faintly, nodded, and then looked away.

_**----------------------------------------------------**_

Andromeda had climbed out of the train feeling utterly, utterly lost. Hogwarts loomed up in the distance, but it felt like the last place she wanted to be. After everything Imogen had said on the train, the thought of spending another year in the company of people who thought the way her family did about the wizarding world made her blood run almost cold.

As she got into a carriage with Imogen, Imogen's younger brother Evan and Rabastan Lestrange, she wondered what on earth was going to happen that year. How was she going to cope with all this? She couldn't stand all this talk of blood treachery, and Mudbloods, and separation. For some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about that Muggleborn boy, Ted. He had been so kind, so generous, when he barely knew her. People like him deserved better than anything Imogen Rosier had to say about them.

Just before they took their places in the Great Hall for the start of term feast, Andromeda saw her sister for the first time since they'd parted at Kings' Cross. To her shock, Narcissa was hanging off the arm of Lucius Malfoy, looking up at him adoringly as he strode down the Great Hall.  
Lucius was in Andromeda's year, though several months younger, and Andromeda loathed his blood purity fanaticism with a passion. He had spent most of the previous year making passes at Andromeda; but now it seemed he had gone for her sister, instead. It was hardly surprising that a Black had ended up with a Malfoy, as the family estates bordered on each other in Wiltshire. But for Lucius to go straight for her sister...

"I think... I think I'm going to be sick," Andromeda said faintly as she sat down next to Imogen.  
"Jealous, are we, Romy?" Imogen pursed her lips. "Well, I must say, Cissa's done well." Andromeda pulled herself up tall, holding her head high. She felt desperately sad - not for losing Lucius, as she had never wanted him in the first place, but because it seemed that she was losing Narcissa. Her younger sister, so easily led astray...

As she sat there, utterly miserable, she looked across the Hall, scanning the crowds for people she knew. And then she saw him - the boy from Kings' Cross. Drat it, she still owed him money. He was talking, joking with his friends; and then he suddenly looked up at her. His eyes were dancing, he had a grin on his face, and there was something so friendly, so open in that smile that she couldn't help but smile back, before looking back down to the table again

Perhaps she would go and repay that debt some time soon. She could find him after lunch, or after supper, and give him the money, and maybe... maybe talk to him. He seemed like such an antidote to what she was going through, and it would be nice just to get a breath of fresh air. As Dumbledore finished his first speech, and as the familiar gleaming platters of food appeared before the students, Andromeda had set her course.


	5. Chasing Debts

_**a/n**:_ As before, thank you so much for all your wonderful feedback! It's great having reviews - every single one a) makes me want to keep writing, and b) helps to guide me to what you guys want to read. Half the success of every public venture is knowing and understanding what people want - so thank you for all your wonderful reviews!

As before, it's still slow going, but I'm scene setting. After all, we're still only a week into the start of term; and there are innumerable barriers between these two. And if Narcissa gets her way, there will be many more boundaries between them... duh duh duhh!

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Andromeda normally loved the first week of term. There was so much excitement, even though she was back at school - seeing all her friends, getting her teeth into new lessons, joining new clubs. Even the small things like writing the first sentence of an essay with a brand new quill and bottle of ink on a fresh sheet of parchment thrilled her. These were the rituals of the first week of term - the first night in the dorms, the first letter home to her parents, the first essay deadline to scrawl down in her diary. All of this thrilled her, and it was what she looked forward to - a return to the routine of school after the holidays.

But this start to the year lacked the same lustre. And Andromeda really didn't want to put her finger on it, but she knew why. She was surrounded by people whose ideals were... well. Another thing she didn't want to put her finger on. Andromeda had always been one for keeping her head firmly down and letting other people make the waves, if there were waves to be made. This year, she decided, should be no different - she wasn't going to join them, but at the same time, she wasn't going to openly oppose them.

Well, that was the plan, she said to herself as she strode across the courtyard a week after school had begun. Keep your head down, and let everything pass over you. Just seem confident, and everybody will ignore you. Then suddenly she saw him. Ted, the boy she'd borrowed the money from. He was sitting with another boy under the shade of a beech tree. It was hardly surprising considering the drizzle on that September lunchtime. Andromeda remembered, with a lurch, that she still owed him that money. Dammit.

Almost without meaning to (actually, definitely without meaning to, as she didn't have the money on her - her purse was up in her dorm), she walked over towards where he was sitting. "Hi," she said, as she came up to him, and then felt very stupid, because she didn't have a clue as to what to say next, other than the obvious. "How are you?"  
Ted didn't really know what to say either. She owed him money, yes, but he hadn't even got her name. "Hi. I'm fine... Andromeda?" He hoped he'd got it right. He was almost sure he had.

"Yes... you're Ted, right?" He nodded. "I'm so sorry I haven't got the money to you yet," Andromeda said suddenly. "It's just... you know, the start of term. It's so busy."  
"Oh, definitely," Ted nodded. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's two bob, for god's sake... it's nothing."  
"But I can't... I can't be indebted to someone," Andromeda said, horrified. Her parents had always said to her that a lady, above all things, should never be indebted to anybody - her husband excepted, of course, and that was an entirely different matter.  
"No, really," Ted said, "it's nothing. I mean, it's not like there's anything to spend it on round here, right?"

"But I'd feel really terrible," Andromeda said. "And I feel even worse, because I don't have it on me right now. But I can get it to you soon, I promise."  
"Want to put a date on that?" The words were out of Ted's mouth before he even realised what he'd said. Sam, sitting next to him, first gasped, then laughed uproariously. Andromeda flushed crimson."I promise you, I'm normally much better about things like this," she said indignantly. "Name it, then."

Ted was, to put it mildly, embarrassed. He honestly didn't mind when Andromeda paid him back - it was two shillings; it wasn't the end of the world. And as he'd said, there wasn't anything to spend two shillings on at Hogwarts. Yes, there was Hogsmeade - but the first visit wouldn't be for weeks, at least. Getting his money back from her was the least of his problems. In his rankings of what mattered in his life, it was somewhere beneath finishing his Potions homework before Friday's lesson, and making sure he'd remembered to get hold of some Flobberworms for his next Herbology lesson (apparently the plant he was tending needed them).

"Oh... well. After dinner tonight?" Ted said, pulling a time and date out of the air. And then, for no reason at all, he added, "I've got some... I've got some new records. Some David Bowie. Do you want to have a listen to them? They're really good."

"Erm... I'll see you after dinner," Andromeda said, heart beating incredibly fast. "Tonight. Anyway, I've got to... I've got to go to the library. Bye." And with that she hurried off, in the opposite direction to the library, leaving Ted gazing after her.  
"Mate, are you absolutely mad?" Sam broke through his thoughts. "Asking Andromeda Black if she'd like to have a listen to some Bowie? Besides," Sam added, sounding aggreived, "you only got them this morning, I thought you were going to play them for us tonight. In the common room."

"Oh, I can play them for you guys as well," Ted said, watching as Andromeda vanished through a door off the side of the courtyard. Then he turned to Sam, and changed the subject. "Ready for some Transfiguration? I swear, McGonagall is going to do my head in."  
"Can't believe she's deputy head now," Sam groaned. "I thought Slughorn would be a dead cert for deputy head."  
"Nah, he has favourites," Ted said ruefully. "McGonagall... now, she's strict, but at least she's fair."

Bickering, the two boys headed off to Transfiguration, not realising they were being watched. With a swish of her straight, blonde hair, Narcissa Black turned away from the window above the courtyard with a vindictive smile. She'd heard the rumours... and now she knew it was true. Her sister, consorting with Mudbloods! She hurried first to the Slytherin common room, then to her dorm, where she rummaged in her schoolbag for some parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. She pursed her lips, and began to write.

_**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**_

Actually, when all was said and done, things were going remarkably well for Andromeda. Her fellow Slytherins were treating her like a human being (though some of them seemed a little bemused when she didn't rush to join in the regular debates on the Mudblood Question (as many of them termed it) or on how the school was going to the dogs - which was Lucius Malfoy's favourite topic), and she was on top of her schoolwork because she spent so much time in the library.

She had to admit, after spending as little time there as she had to during the previous six years, she could now see the library's advantages. Some sixth year during her first term at Hogwarts had joked that the library was useful for three things: sleeping, flirting, and hiding. Andromeda definitely agreed with the last one, and partly with the first.

As for the middle one... well, she hadn't found anybody to flirt with yet. But the way in which she was cracking on with her texts... well! She would ace those exams at the end of the year. She had to. How else could she tell her parents that she wanted a career, rather than simply getting married. Perhaps she could just postpone the inevitable for a few years. Or maybe, somehow, Mr Right would just pop up sometime soon...

She couldn't think how he would. She knew all the "suitable" boys at Hogwarts, and they were, without exception, awful, in one respect or another. Take, for example, Lucius Malfoy, presently so enamoured with her sister... Andromeda shuddered. There was no way she could even consider him. His pureblood extremism, his arrogance... it made her feel ill just thinking about it.

As she was dwelling on those thoughts, she looked at her watch. Dammit! It was half past six. Dinner had begun; if she wasn't careful, she would miss... Ted, wasn't it? She still had to get back to her dorm, get her money, have dinner, and repay him. And what was it he'd said? Listen to some records? "Some chance," Andromeda muttered, as she abandoned her books, and half ran back towards the Slytherin common room.


	6. The Stairs

**a/n:** OK, firstly apologies about the formatting for this chapter. For some reason didn't like me uploading from WordPad (I don't have Word; my laptop didn't come with it and I'm not paying an obscene amount of money for MS Office), so I had to put it into Notepad, which removed the formatting... I have tried to pick up on everything but I may not be successful!

So I suppose that we are now, finally, at a chapter where something happens. Not much, really, but it's still happening, slowly.

As always, thanks for the reviews - it makes writing much more pleasant! And I'm enjoying writing this so much - Ted and Andromeda are such a great pair to write about.

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"Oh, drat it! How many knuts are there to a shilling? Or could it be more than a sickle?" Andromeda groaned as she rummaged through the top drawer of her bedside table. Both the common room and her dormitory had been empty; everybody else was at supper. Finally, she spotted inspiration, in the form of a copy of Imogen's _Witch Weekly_.

Andromeda shuddered slightly as she picked it up. She had inherited her mother's snobbish view of those who read _Witch Weekly_ - Druella Black referred to it as a common rag. Imogen claimed she read it for the social gossip and the fashion tips, but from flicking through it, Andromeda noted they were few and far between.

But that wasn't why she'd picked the magazine up. She turned back to the front cover, and looked for the price. _1 Sickle 5 Knuts_ was printed in tiny writing just below the magazine's date. "OK," she breathed slowly. "Be logical." She could do that; she was top of her Arithmancy class.

_This is a weekly magazine, _Andromeda thought. _Let's say that a monthly magazine has got to be worth at least four times that of a weekly magazine, because it covers four times as great a period. So that's... four sickles, twenty knuts. And you're doubling that for Ted, because you said you would. Nine sickles, thirteen knuts. Oh hell, may as well round it up to ten sickles._

"Ten sickles," she breathed as she opened her eyes again. "Perfect." She dug around in her purse for the change, and then looked up at herself in the round mirror which hung above the bedside table. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes sparkled; her curly brown hair was messy. "Can't go to supper like this," she said to herself, and hastily grabbed her hairbrush and ran it through her hair. When she was satisfied, she grabbed the pile of silver from where she'd counted it out onto her quilt, put it in her pocket, and headed off towards the Great Hall.

-----------------------------------------

Ted was beginning to get bored with hanging around on the stairs outside the Hall. He'd positioned himself on the landing half way up the stairs from the entrance hall, which gave him a good vantage point of all the comings and goings from the various houses. He'd been waiting for Andromeda to turn up for a good quarter of an hour now, and was feeling restless. Even with his prefect duties during the supervised study hour between five and six, he'd arrived at quarter past six on the dot, which was when supper began.

Gideon and Sam had gone ahead, promising to save him some food, but it would be getting cold now. Ted knew it was shepherd's pie; he could smell it, and just a mere whiff of it was making his stomach grumble. He was certain Andromeda hadn't been past yet, though he had seen the gang of Slytherins she was normally with go into the Hall.

With them was the blonde girl he knew to be Andromeda's younger sister, Narcissa Black. Everybody knew Narcissa; she made it her business to make sure they did, and also made certain they knew exactly what she thought of them. As she passed Ted, standing outside the Hall, she'd thrown him a particularly nasty smile. It was a knowing smile, Ted thought as she swept on past into supper. He knew what people like Narcissa Black thought of him, and frankly, he didn't care much for her either, which was why he avoided her. So why that look?

Finally there came a clatter of shoes in the entrance hall, as Andromeda came up the stairs from the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. She was out of breath, and as soon as she saw Ted, exclaimed, "I am so sorry! I really am! I was in the library and I completely lost track of the time." "Oh, it's fine," Ted shrugged, "really." He watched as she hurried up the stairs to the landing and dug in her pockets, pulling out a handful of silver.

"I hope this is enough," Andromeda said, still a little breathless as she poured it into his hands. Ted's eyes widened. There had to be at least ten sickles there - more money than he'd ever had at Hogwarts.  
"Oh god, this is far more than enough," he exclaimed. "Really, you hardly owe me anything"  
"Take it," Andromeda said stubbornly. "You got me a copy of _Vogue_, Ted. I've been dying for that magazine all summer."

Ted wavered. He really didn't want to half rob this girl, but ten sickles... "Tell you what," he said suddenly as an idea struck him. "I'll get my sister Lucy to send you the next month's copy, when it comes out. I'll send her some of my money that's left from what my father gave me. I mean, you've given me more than double."

Andromeda's eyes were like saucers. "Really?" she whispered. "You'd do that?" She felt completely taken aback. Nobody had ever offered to do something like that for her before.  
"Of course," Ted nodded. "Shillings and pence aren't any good here, anyway. And... well." He was about to add something about noticing how much she'd enjoyed getting the last one, but decided not to.

"Anyway," Ted said, suddenly not wanting to say goodbye to this girl just yet, "I was thinking. If you like all of our stuff - I mean, Muggle stuff- so much, do you want to come and have a listen to some of the records I've got? I got a brand new David Bowie LP through the owl post this morning; I haven't even listened to it yet. I just thought, you know. Muggle culture and all that."

"Oh," Andromeda said, feeling miserable, "I'd love to, but... well, I've got a lot of work to get on with. You know, NEWTs and all that." She didn't want to say that she couldn't really be seen with him, but somehow she knew that he understood, because he looked away briefly, then back to her. She felt her face turn crimson with embarrassment.  
"Ah well. Another time, perhaps." Then Ted didn't want to look at her any longer, now that the truth of the situation had been revealed, and his offer had been rebuffed. Gently rebuffed, yes, but rebuffed none the less.  
"Another time," Andromeda echoed. "Anyway, I'll see you around." And she turned quickly away to head down the stairs to dinner.

Too quickly. In her haste to escape the awkwardness of their conversation, she took the stairs at a rush. Halfway down the twenty or so steps from the landing to the entrance hall, she tripped on her shoelace, stumbled and fell, crashing down the final ten steps and landing in a tangled heap of arms and legs at the foot of the stairs.

Ted didn't even see it happen. He was too busy looking at his feet, rather than watching her go. He only realised she'd fallen when he heard the noise of her slender body tumbling down the steps, and the brief, sharp cry as she hit the cold stone floor at the bottom. He looked up, and immediately realised what had happened. Taking the stairs three at a time, he hurried down them to the bottom, just as Andromeda was pushing herself up.

"Oh Christ," Ted said, as he crouched down to help her to her feet. "God, are you alright? That was a nasty fall"  
"I... I think so." Andromeda sounded dazed, and as she looked up to him he saw that she had a graze all the way across the right side of her forehead from the stone floor. "Oh, you've... you've grazed your forehead," he said, and Andromeda gingerly reached up to touch it, wincing as her fingers came into contact with it.

"You should get Madam Pomfrey to have a look at that, it's nasty," Ted said firmly. "Come on, I'll take you up to the hospital wing"  
"I'll... I'll take myself, in a bit," Andromeda said faintly. "You don't need to come - look, you've almost missed supper. It's not fair on you." Ted wavered, but then she tried to stand up, and cried out again in pain.  
"What is it?" Ted asked, and Andromeda, her face now chalky white from the pain, muttered,  
"It's my ankle. It's... oh, it's agony!" She had tried to rest her weight on it again, and a sharp twinge of pain had shot up her leg.

"Then you definitely need to go to the hospital wing," Ted said, "and you can't go on your own. It's at least five floors up from here. Come on, put your arm round my shoulders - yes, that's it - and I'll put my arm round your waist, like so, and then... then we'll be fine."

And together they headed off towards the hospital wing, Andromeda limping, Ted supporting her. To those Slytherins who were emerging from supper - Slytherins including Narcissa, Lucius, Rabastan and Imogen - they looked like two young lovers, the way they had their arms entwined around each other. Narcissa turned to Imogen, a triumphant look on her face. "What did I tell you?" she said. "Hah! Mother is going to go _mad_ when I tell her about this!"


	7. Faint

**_a/n_**: As always, thanks for all the reviews! It's great to have people critique your work – and it's been so constructive as well! Thanks a lot to everybody who's written a review.

Apologies for not getting this chapter up more quickly, but I've been very busy. We've got a water shortage here in South East England, and a hosepipe ban – so I've had to be out in the garden watering my mother's plants with a watering can for about three hours every evening, which eats into writing time! Also I wanted to get this chapter right, and couldn't decide about the ending.

OK… so they're off to the hospital wing! Ted gets to play the rescuer and Andromeda the damsel in distress (though no Black family member could ever truly act that part). Lyrics at the start and the end are from _Precious Illusions_ by Alanis Morrissette. I just thought they would fit rather well with this chapter.

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_You rescued me right _

_In the exact same way they never did_

_I'll be happy right _

_When your healing powers kick in_

_You'll complete me right_

_Then my life can finally begin_

_I'll be worthy right_

_Only when you realize the gem I am_

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Ted hardly even noticed Andromeda's weight on his shoulders as they went up to the hospital wing. Not that there was very much weight there, anyway; Andromeda was as slender as a sapling, and she wasn't like some people, who struggle and fuss as they are helped up stairs and along corridors.

He looked at her face every now and again. She was pale, and her lips were pursed; it was obvious she was in pain.

'Are you alright?' Ted ventured. 'You know, I can carry you properly if you want.'

'No, I'm fine,' Andromeda said, and he would have been more convinced if her voice hadn't been shaking quite so much as she said it. When he was silent, she said, 'Honestly. It hardly hurts at all, now.' And as if to prove her point, she lifted her arm from his shoulder, put the injured foot down on the floor, and rested her weight on it.

Ted hadn't expected what came next. Andromeda screamed, though it could hardly be called that – it was the same short, sharp cry of pain he'd heard when she had landed at the foot of the stairs. But this time, Andromeda fainted, and it was only his arm around her waist that prevented her from falling onto the polished wooden floorboards of the third floor corridor.

'Andromeda?' Ted said to her, shaking her gently. 'Andromeda!' The second time he said it a little more sharply. 'C'mon. Wake up.' But she wasn't stirring, and so finally, Ted did what he had to do – he picked her up properly, in his arms, carefully put her arms around his neck, and carried her the rest of the way to the hospital wing.

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Andromeda started to come round as Ted was walking up the final flight of stairs to the hospital. She started a little as she realised where she was – cradled in Ted Tonks's arms.

'Oh god, I'm so sorry!' she exclaimed. 'I must have just…'

'You fainted,' Ted said, pausing on the stairs. 'Are you alright? I wasn't sure.'

'I'm… I'm fine, I think,' Andromeda said slowly, then cringed. 'Look, you can put me down, you know, I'll be fine.'

'We're almost there,' Ted said, continuing on up the steps, 'and you don't want to damage that ankle any more than it already is.'

There was something deeply comforting about his arms. Andromeda took a moment to work out what it was, but then realised – she hadn't been this close to anyone for months. Her parents had stopped hugging her once she'd gone to Hogwarts; if she'd needed comfort, she'd gone to Bella or Cissa, and that hadn't lasted long. Just having another person's arms holding her, keeping her safe, felt remarkable.

She looked up at Ted's face. It was so determined, so controlled, so very, very strong. She linked his fingers behind his neck and rested her head against his chest just as he walked through the doors to the hospital wing.

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'Sprain, is it?' Madam Pomfrey huffed as Ted gently laid Andromeda down on one of the beds.

'I'm not sure,' Andromeda admitted. 'I fell down the stairs in the entrance hall.' She allowed Madam Pomfrey to examine it further. The matron prodded and gently manipulated the ankle, then pronounced,

'Fracture.' She pulled out her wand, and with a single flick, she mended Andromeda's ankle. 'There, should be good as new.'

Andromeda gently flexed her ankle, and as the matron had said, it was back to normal. 'Thank you so much,' she said to Madam Pomfrey, and swung herself around and off the bed. 'Brilliant.'

'Be a little bit more careful on those stairs in future, Miss Black,' Madam Pomfrey wagged her finger. 'You're not the first to come a cropper there.' She vanished off into her office, and Andromeda and Ted walked out of the hospital wing together.

On the stairs, Andromeda turned to Ted.

'Oh dear,' she said. 'I expect you've completely missed your dinner.'

'Doesn't matter,' Ted shrugged, 'I've got some supplies in my dorm. I won't go hungry.' That was a little white lie, as he only had a couple of liquorice wands, but he didn't want Andromeda Black to feel bad about his rescuing her. 'Anyway – what are you up to now?'

'I'm going to be in the library,' Andromeda sighed. 'I have a massive Ancient Runes essay due in two days. What about you?'

'Library as well. For my Herbology,' Ted said quickly. For some reason, he really, really didn't want to just go back to the Ravenclaw common room and listen to David Bowie. He could spare an hour in the library.

'Well,' Andromeda said slowly, as they reached the second floor, 'I expect I'll see you in there.'

'I look forward to it,' Ted smiled. 'You're sure you're going to be alright?'

'My ankle's fine, Ted,' Andromeda smiled. And then, because she wanted to feel again that brief sensation of comfort she'd felt earlier on as he carried her up the stairs, she hugged him.

It was so sudden, and so unexpected, that Ted didn't know quite what to do at first. Here he was with Andromeda Black hugging him, the girl who a little less than two weeks ago he had never even spoken to.

And then Ted did something which, especially for him, was foolish. He kissed the girl in his arms – first on the forehead, and then when she looked up at him, on the lips.

Andromeda did nothing as he kissed her – just stood there, passive, her heart beating wildly; and when he broke away from her, she stood there, shivering a little.

'Sorry,' Ted said quickly. 'I didn't mean…'

'It's fine,' Andromeda managed to gasp. 'It's fine. Anyway, I'll see you later.' And she turned and fled down to the Slytherin common room, this time managing not to slip on a single stair.

In the second floor corridor, Ted stood as if frozen between the portraits of Lady Georgina the Unscrupulous, and the Mad Monk of Nether Wychwood. What had just possessed him? He had kissed Andromeda Black! Him, a Muggleborn! And yet, he felt like he was flying.

He turned on his heel, and walked off determinedly towards the Ravenclaw common room. He had to get his Herbology books, and get himself to the library.

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_But this won't work as well as the way it once did, 'cause I want to decide between survival and bliss,_

_And though I know who I'm not, I still don't know who I am, but I know I won't keep on playing the victim._


	8. Collapse

**_a/n_ **: Reviewers – I love each and every one of you! Thanks for all the encouraging feedback.

Reason for delay: holiday in Scotland. I've been writing this on my laptop (thank god I brought it) bit by bit – and so, without further delay, I shall begin.

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Andromeda had never known a time when she had felt like this. Never had confusion descended like this, descended upon her brain like a thick mist which she could not see more than a few feet before her. She was a wanderer lost on the moors in a fog, faced with two choices – to stumble onwards in the direction which seemed the most certain, in the hope that it would lead her out of this confusion into some certainty – but what was this certainty? Or, should she just stall – stay put in the fog, confused but secure in her surroundings?

'And where have you been?' The voice was accusatory, yet knowing; it was that of Imogen Rosier, emerging from the Slytherin common room with her younger brother Evan, just as Andromeda was descending the stairs.

'Hmm?' Andromeda said, sounding as absent-minded as she dared.

'Don't you hmm me, Andromeda Black!' Imogen's voice was suddenly low and nasty. '_Everybody_ saw you and that Mudblood on the stairs! It's disgusting, that's what it is! Arms around each other like that…'

Andromeda's blood ran cold – had someone overseen that brief, snatched kiss? She hadn't even meant it… had she?

'I don't know what you're talking about. And please don't use that word in front of me again.' Andromeda said sharply, and Imogen laughed harshly.

'What, mudblood? We were coming out of supper. We could hardly miss seeing you and that… thing.'

Slowly it registered in Andromeda's brain that they had seen Ted supporting her up to the hospital wing, and she felt a huge flood of relief. That was easily explained away.

'Oh, that!' she exclaimed. 'I was paying Ted back for the magazine, and as I was hurrying to get to supper, I fell on the stairs. I fractured my ankle and he helped me up to the hospital wing. That's all, Im. God, you really think I'm that stupid to get involved with someone like him?' Imogen at first looked suspicious, but then relaxed.

'He was just helping you?' she asked, and Andromeda nodded. 'Right,' Imogen said slowly. 'Well, you should probably tell your sister. She went to the Owlery about ten minutes ago to send your mother a letter telling her that you were consorting with a Mudblood.'

'What!' Andromeda gasped. 'Oh, god…' And with that she ran off as fast as she could towards the Owlery.

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The library was empty when Ted reached it. That was hardly unusual; it only really filled up with people around exams, and of course on Sunday nights, when it would swarm with those who had neglected their homework over the weekend. Of course, nothing ever got done on Sunday nights, except gossiping, but it made most people feel as if they had at least tried to get their homework done, if they came and sat amongst the shelves of old, dusty books.

After a long look around, Ted sat down at a table where he would easily be seen by anybody entering the library, and opened his Herbology textbook, flicking through the pages to the chapter he wanted. He gazed down at the words on the page, but didn't really read them. He turned over page after page without really absorbing the information; he kept looking up at the door, willing it to open and for Andromeda to be standing there, her brown curls cascading over her shoulders… Ted had never wanted to see a girl so much. And as the hands on the clock above the library door continued their slow, inexorable course round, he wanted to think she was still going to come.

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Andromeda had never run so fast in her life as she did towards the Owlery. Her feet clattered up and down stairs, along corridors, but before she could reach it, she found Narcissa coming the other way.

'Cissa! Have you sent Mama a letter?' Andromeda gasped, utterly out of breath.

'Yes,' Narcissa said, her face utterly emotionless. 'I have done what needed to be done. You of all people should not be seen consorting with Mudbloods!'

'I wasn't _consorting_ with him,' Andromeda exclaimed, 'I fell on the stairs and he helped me to the hospital wing!'

'If that Mudblood fell on the stairs in front of me, I would step over his body,' Narcissa sneered. 'Have you no sense of your duty to your family and to your ancestors?'

'This isn't about duty,' Andromeda snapped, 'it's about manners, and about morals. It's about treating other people as you'd like to be treated yourself!'

'I'd rather die than ever be touched by a Mudblood!' Narcissa's voice was glacial, but her eyes blazed. 'You're acting like a traitor, Andromeda Black, and Mama and Papa deserve to know!'

'You disgust me, Cissa,' Andromeda said, her voice equally cold. 'Hanging around with Rabastan Lestrange, dangling yourself off Lucius Malfoy's arm…

'Hah! You're jealous, and that's the end of the story. Jealous because I've managed to catch a decent man, one you turned your nose up at because you were too proud…'

Andromeda stared at her sister. 'Jealous?' she exclaimed. 'Jealous! I'd never be jealous of anybody going out with that reptile.'

'Don't ever insult Lucius Malfoy in front of me,' Narcissa said, 'he's more worthy than any other man at this school.'

'Worthy?' Andromeda exploded. Then she turned her back and stormed off, furious. She hated fighting with Narcissa; as much as her family's beliefs were getting under her skin, they were still her family. Blind to everything around her, Andromeda fled until she reached her sanctuary, a classroom on the fourth floor. It was used for practice by the Charms club, and was consequently equipped with big fluffy cushions to prevent injuries acquired from Stunning spells. Andromeda collapsed onto the pile of cushions, and felt the tears welling up in her eyes. What on earth was going on, anyway?

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Up in the library, Ted was still watching the clock. The hands were creeping round; it was almost quarter to nine, and time to return to the Ravenclaw common room. _Where was she?_ Where was the beautiful, fragile, untouchable Andromeda Black? His herbology texts lay cast aside on the desk, the parchment before him filled with scribbled hearts, and a drawing of a pair of sparkling grey eyes, looking up at him, filled with indescribable feelings…

At five to nine, Ted stood up abruptly, and with one movement swept all his papers off the table before him into his bag. Tossing it over his shoulder, he stalked off from the library. Ted hated feeling like an idiot. And the circumstances were… complex, to say the least. Hadn't she wanted him to kiss her? She'd hugged him first! _Oh, bollocks,_ Ted said to himself, _you've messed this one up_. What was it Gideon had said? _You'd be an idiot to get involved with a Black_.

If there was one thing Ted hated more than feeling like an idiot, it was failing to listen to what his friends had to say. As he strode towards the Ravenclaw common room, he struggled to keep his feelings under control. But that was it. No more. He was square with Andromeda Black; he wasn't going to have anything to do with her again. And as he came into the common room and the cry went up for him to put his new Bowie album on, because they'd been waiting for ages, and where had he been anyway, Ted knew he was right. No more.


	9. Howling

**a/n: **On to the next chapter! Thanks for the reviews – glad to hear you all still like what I'm doing. Lyrics for this chapter are from the song My Oh My by David Gray.

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_What on earth is going on in my heart_  
_As it turns as cold as stone_  
_Seems these days I don't feel anything_  
_Unless it cuts me right down to the bone_  
_What on earth is going on in my heart?_

_What on earth is going on in my head_  
_You know I used to be so sure_  
_You know I used to be so definite_  
_Thought I knew what love was for_  
_I look around these days and I'm not so sure  
_

_My oh my you know it just don't stop_  
_It's in my mind I wanna tear it up_  
_I've tried to fight it tried to turn it off_  
_But it's not enough_

_It takes a lot of love_  
_It takes a lot of love my friend_  
_To keep your heart from freezing_  
_To push on till the end_

_And my oh my you know I just can't win_  
_I burn it down it comes right back again_  
_What kinda world is this we're living in_  
_Where you never win?_

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Andromeda's whole body was cold. The chill of the castle in the early morning had sunk deep into her, but as dawn broke over the hills and the forest surrounding the school, she barely felt it. Sitting on the window seat in her dorm, she noticed nothing - not the rise and fall of the slumbering breath of others, nor the beautiful streaks of pink of orange across the dawn sky. The mist of a late September morning hung just above the grounds, a carpet of cloud on the grass.

She hadn't slept a wink that night. After the fight with Narcissa, she had gone into the Charms classroom, and stayed there for as long as she could, crying quietly to herself. Shortly before she had to go back to her common room, she remembered – damn it! – her Ancient Runes essay. She had to go to the library, come hell or high water; there was a book in there she needed, and the essay wasn't anywhere near as completed as it should have been…

Andromeda tore up to the library, and arrived at two minutes to nine, as Madam Pince was closing the doors.

'Sorry, Miss Black,' the librarian said curtly. 'Both you and I know you should be heading off to your common room.'

'Please, Madam Pince!' Andromeda implored. 'I really, really need a runes book! I know exactly where it is, I'll be less than a minute!' Madam Pince looked at her for a moment, then sighed and unlocked the library door.

'Hurry up,' she snapped, and Andromeda rushed into the library. Within a few moments she was at the Ancient Runes section, and pulled the book she needed off the shelf. She hurried back to the library door, and as she did, saw a piece of parchment on the floor by one of the tables. There were scrawlings all over it, and for no reason at all, she ducked down, picked it up and tucked it inside her runes book. Then she hurried out of the library, and off to the Slytherin common room, and her dormitory.

She hadn't been able to sleep. Imogen and the others had been ignoring her – presumably after hearing about her argument with Narcissa, and her insults against Lucius Malfoy. But she didn't care. She preferred silence any day to sneering comments, or heaven forbid, more arguments. Instead, Andromeda lay on her bed, still feeling miserable about fighting with Narcissa. She didn't want to row with her family. She really didn't. When she thought back to the old days, when she and Narcissa and Bella had been best friends and played together constantly, her heart twisted. She missed those days like nothing else, and would do anything to try to keep her sisters as friends.

After a while, once the others were all sleeping, she went and sat on the window seat, gazing out at the grounds. Narcissa was gone from her thoughts, to be replaced instead by Ted. Ted, so good, so kind, so strong. Ted, her rescuer, the one thing that she couldn't have.

'Perhaps someday all this will change,' Andromeda sighed to herself. That kiss- well, there was that kiss which seemed, in the joining of their lips, to make her whole. She knew she had felt whole before, but perhaps that had just been a lie. She knew that with Ted, she gained something – even if it was merely the smallest sense of being more than just herself.

Andromeda Black gazed out into the dawn, and wondered what the day would bring.

-----------------

As they went to breakfast, Imogen was talking to her again. It was a source of relief for Andromeda. Even if Narcissa was ignoring her, at least Imogen was talking. How many days could one go without conversation, after all? No, a new day had dawned. She was going to apologise to Narcissa when she saw her, and try harder with her sister from now on…

As she came up the steps to the entrance hall with Imogen, she saw him. Ted, descending the stairs with Gideon Prewett and the other boy who hung around with them. She felt the colour rise in her face, and she looked away, and then back again, smiling shyly. But Ted wasn't looking at her. He was deep in conversation with Gideon, who suddenly burst into roars of laughter. Then Ted looked straight at her, and his eyes weren't warm any longer. They were entirely blank, as they must have been for all the years they had spent at Hogwarts before that fateful meeting on Platform 9¾ less than a month before. Then he turned back to Gideon, and Andromeda felt as if the bottom of her stomach had dropped out. She turned quickly to Imogen, and as they went into the Great Hall, hoped that it didn't all mean what she thought it did.

-----------------

Ted had woken up in an excellent mood. The previous night, he had been lazing around in the common room with Gideon, Sam and Gideon's younger brother Fabian, listening to David Bowie, playing wizard chess and exploding snap, and drinking Firewhiskey. There were some things that Ted really enjoyed about being a seventh year, and getting away with having a drink occasionally was one of them. Gideon had been particularly merry, cracking endless jokes about being old and decrepit, because his sister Molly had a little over two months left until she was due to have her baby. Ted didn't really participate that much in the banter, but took pleasure in listening to them all.

And so, having gone to bed feeling remarkably mellow considering the events of the early evening, he awoke feeling happy as well. He headed off down to breakfast with Gideon and Sam, all of them laughing their heads off at the slightest thing. As he was coming down the stairs to the entrance hall, Ted saw Andromeda, coming up the stairs from the dungeons. He felt his insides contort, but then resolutely continued telling Gideon the story about what had happened when his younger sister got hold of his wand and a spell book, and ended up giving herself a blue and purple striped nose. Gideon, as was required, collapsed into laughter on the stairs.

Breakfast at Hogwarts always followed a specific pattern for Ted. He would pour himself a cup of tea, and whilst he was waiting for it to cool, he would have a fried egg, some bacon, and then some toast. By then, his tea would be cool enough to drink, and if he had any post, it would have arrived, and he would read it whilst the flavours of the tea swirled around his mouth.

Today, he had no post. Sam had a letter from his sister, and Gideon and Fabian received a joint parcel from home, full of home baked goodies. But, like everybody else, Ted heared the Howler as it went off at the Slytherin table.

**'YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO YOUR FAMILY AND TO THE ANCIENT AND MOST NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK! YOUR CONSORTING WITH MUDBLOODS HAS SHOWN YOUR NEGLECT OF YOUR DUTY AND STRAYING FROM THE PATH REQUIRED OF YOU!'**

Ted looked across to the Slytherin table. Many people were standing to get a better view of a mortified Andromeda, who had buried her face in her hands. Further down the table, Lucius Malfoy was smiling; Narcissa looked remarkably pleased.

**'A FULL EXPLANATION IS REQUIRED FROM YOU, AND AN APOLOGY TO MYSELF, YOUR FATHER AND TO YOUR SISTER! IMMEDIATELY!'** The letter burst into flames at the table, and Ted watched as Andromeda leapt to her feet, almost falling over in her haste to escape, and fled from the dining hall. All eyes watched her go, the Slytherins laughing, and everybody else in a shocked silence. Everybody knew about pureblood sentiment, yes, but this was the first time it had spilled quite so publicly out into the open.

'Look at Dumbledore!' Gideon exclaimed, and Ted glanced up to the staff table, where he saw the headmaster talking animatedly to Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore seemed entirely casual, but the strained look on McGonagall's face said it all. Ted unconsciously shivered.

'She may be a Black, but poor Andromeda,' Sam said. 'Nobody deserves that. Do you think the letter was talking about her speaking to you yesterday?' With a start, Ted realised he still hadn't told his friends what had happened the previous evening. Then he wondered – had someone overseen them kissing? He shivered again, and said, 'Oh, I don't know. But anyway, she gave me the money, and any dealings I've had with her are over.'

Gideon raised an eyebrow. 'No need to sound quite so bitter, Tedward. Here, have some more toast; or better still, try some of Molly's ginger biscuits. They're quite something.' Ted took the offered biscuit, but his mind was elsewhere.


	10. November

_Two and a half months after the morning of the Howler to end all Howlers, and Andromeda's life was slowly returning to normal. She had patched things up with Narcissa after plenty of self-flagellation. Things were as they always had been with Imogen. Even Bella was on speaking terms with her now, presumably having heard from Narcissa that their sister had seen sense._

_But if things were so normal, then why did Andromeda feel so dead inside? She went to lessons, ate her dinner, did her homework, laughed at Lucius Malfoy's jokes, played wizard chess with Imogen or Evan, and went up to the dormitory where she performed her evening beauty rituals, then sat on her bed and gossiped with the others. She did all of this; but she was doing it as some sort of deep seated reflex. If someone had told her to jump in the lake as part of her daily routine, she would have done it, just so things could be normal._

_When I leave school, Andromeda said to herself, I'll come back to life. But until then... until then... Until then, she had to toe the line. She had to maintain a face, a life, a family name. She was of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, and she had to be _toujours pur. _ Ted was... well, he was there, but it was like nothing had ever happened. Andromeda didn't know whether to be pleased, or upset. She knew which one she was supposed to be. She also knew which one she would rather be. _

_In one of those ironic twists of life, he seemed to be everywhere she went. She'd lost count of the number of times she had gone into the Great Hall for meals and ended up sitting directly in his sight; the number of times they had met in corridors and passed without a single word or even a smile; the number of times she'd replayed that kiss in her head. Always her point of view was as if from some disembodied head, hanging above the two of them, watching as first she hugged him, then they kissed..._

-------------------------------

_Did Ted have any thoughts on the subject? If he did, he was the only one who knew them. He didn't speak about his feelings with Gideon or Sam; he was a man, he didn't need to, wasn't supposed to. _

_Ted spent the better part of two weeks after the arrival of Druella Black's Howler wondering if there was something he should do. He saw Andromeda in the corridors, her face pale and strained, dark circles under her eyes. Somehow, it made her seem even more beautiful and fragile than ever. But what was there he could do? He had stepped into her life once, briefly, and this was the result. And so, after a fortnight, Ted stepped back, moved on, and tried his best to forget about Andromeda Black. _

_It was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. Not least because he saw her everywhere - in meals, in classes, between them. He saw her working between stacks of books in the library, her quill scratching away at the parchment before her. Every time he saw her, he wondered for a moment if he should say anything. Even a hello, or a how are you, would have been something... but then he remembered. Step back, move on, forget her._

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_In November, everything changed._

-------------------------------

"Ted! I've been looking for you everywhere!" The whisper sounded like a shout in the silence of the library, and Ted's head whipped up from the plant dictionary before him, to see a breathless and slightly muddy Sam standing before him, grinning like a lunatic.

"What's up?" Ted said, a little surprised. It was a Sunday afternoon, and the last time he'd seen Sam had been at lunch, when he'd declared he was spending the rest of the afternoon playing Quidditch with Gideon and scratch mixed teams from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Gid wants to see you," Sam panted, "he's had news from home." _It can't be bad news_, Ted realised, _or Sam wouldn't be so happy..._

"Molly!" Ted exclaimed, and Sam nodded, still grinning. Without stopping to collect his things, Ted ran out of the library with Sam, on their way to congratulate Gideon Prewett on becoming an uncle.

As they left, Andromeda stared after them, wishing she could share in their excitement - whatever it was. Her head ached; she'd been writing an Arithmancy essay since ten o'clock that morning, with only a brief pause to bolt down a plate of Sunday roast. It was now half past four, and getting dark outside. Andromeda cast a critical eye over the essay. It wasn't due in until Thursday; perhaps she should just put it away, and get out of the library. Yes; that was a good plan.

Andromeda disliked the corridors at Hogwarts on winter afternoons. The lamps, candles and torches were only lit when it became truly dark; in the twilight, the corridors were gloomy and miserable. She walked quickly along the familiar route to the common room, but as she came to the top of the stairs of the Entrance Hall, she froze. There below her was a noisy group of most of the Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in her year, as well as dozens from other years, all of them crowded around Gideon and Fabian Prewett, clutching bottles of butterbeer or firewhiskey.

She could see Ted in the thick of it all, and it was Ted who was shouting, "OI! OI! SHUT UP!" The group quietened down. "I would like to propose a toast," Ted said loudly, "to Mr Gideon Prewett, and Mr Fabian Prewett - uncles!"

"To the uncles!" the crowd roared, and bottles clinked. Then Gideon, his voice full of emotion, said,

"I'd like to propose another toast - to my new nephew, William Weasley!"

"William Weasley!" More clinking, more drinking. Andromeda suddenly realised where she was, and rapidly began to walk down the stairs. As she did, she looked up, and her eyes met Ted's.

Time slowed down, and stopped. For the first time in months, their eyes met, and held. Andromeda could hardly bear it, and looked away, continuing on down the stairs. But something caught her, and as she walked past Gideon Prewett, she stopped.

"Congratulations," she said shyly to a clearly drunk Gideon, who grinned at her. _He hasn't realised who I am_, Andromeda thought to herself.

"Thank you. Can't believe it, I'm an uncle!" Andromeda smiled back, and then started to walk on. "Hey!" said an indignant Gideon. "Stay! Have a drink!" _He definitely hasn't realised who I am_.

"Oh, I couldn't..." But suddenly her books were being forcibly removed from her arms, and replaced by a bottle of firewhiskey. "No, really!" Andromeda protested, but the crowd were urging her on, and suddenly she saw Ted's face again. He was smiling at her, and suddenly she didn't care any more. She swigged from the bottle, and people cheered.

"So you Blacks can loosen up then!" one of the boys exclaimed, and Andromeda smiled politely. The drink had set her throat on fire... Blindly, she swigged from the bottle again. More cheers... this stuff wasn't that bad, after all.

"Easy there," came a voice at her elbow, and suddenly Ted was beside her. "That stuff's strong."

"I know what firewhiskey is, thank you," Andromeda said tartly.

"Ouch," Ted said lightly. "That put me in my place." But he was still smiling. Still smiling...

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?" The shocked voice of Professor McGonagall came from the top of the stairs, and even though none of them were doing anything wrong, someone in the crowd shouted

"IT'S MCGONAGALL! RUN!"

The crowd fragmented like a broken mirror. In the confusion, Andromeda didn't know quite what to do, but suddenly, through the crowd, a hand grabbed hers, and pulled her away. She ran with the hand through a tapestry, into a gloomy corridor. All around her was noise and confusion, and then suddenly there was another tapestry, and total darkness, and her heart was beating wildly as the hand she was holding squeezed her tighter than ever. "Who's there?" she gasped, frightened, even though she already knew; perhaps she was merely clutching at the last straws of innocence.

Then came the response, as lips met her own, a kiss which tasted of butterbeer and firewhiskey, hands snaked round her back, pressing her to another body. _If this is how losing my innocence feels, _the voice in her head said, _make it go on forever._


	11. Coming Home

_Andromeda never thought she could ever become one of those girls. Every school had girls like that; the girls who know the location of every secluded spot, every curtained alcove, and every disused classroom within the castle. Andromeda had never believed she could be one of those girls. But within hours of that kiss, the kiss to end all else, it was as if her mental map of the school was being redrawn, adjusted to fit this new reality. As frost held the ground outside Hogwarts in a grip of iron, Andromeda was discovering new worlds, within the castle, and within herself._

_They developed codes, signals, signs so complex that anybody walking by could never have grasped what they truly were. Andromeda dropping her quill in a corridor, then rubbing the end of her nose as she stood up again (half past six in the old Charms classroom on the fifth floor); Ted coughing twice and then sniffing (quarter past eight in the alcove behind the tapestry of the Blue Lady). _

_Ted hated lying to his friends about where he was disappearing off to. But there was nothing else to be done; and the new feelings flooding him day by day were more than enough to make him feed them the same old stories about being in the library, or in detention, or practising his flying. _

_The tapestry of the Blue Lady had ended up being their favourite spot. It was just big enough to take them both and the couple of cushions Ted would conjure from nowhere. He would sit against the wall, and Andromeda would lie against him, her head on his chest. Some days they would talk, but mostly they just sat there in silence. Being in each other's company, the one thing they were denied in the world outside, was more than enough._

_Once, Andromeda turned to Ted, her eyes full of worry. "What are we doing?" she whispered. "What are we really doing?" Ted hadn't known what to say, so he said the first thing which came into his head._

"_Killing time. Killing time until we're free to do what we want. And I quite enjoy killing it with you."_

_-------------------------------__  
_

For the first time since Andromeda had started at Hogwarts, she didn't want the autumn term to end. The end of term would bring the journey back to Kings' Cross, and then to the cold gloom of her parents' house in Wiltshire. It would bring a certain, definite interlude to this blissful feeling she'd had for almost two weeks, the feeling that was currently keeping her going. It was the thought which filled her head; would being separated for Christmas bring an end to their relationship? Every time she opened her mouth to say something to Ted, she realised that she didn't know what it was she was trying to put her finger on.

The end of term came far too quickly. In the middle of packing, Andromeda claimed she had left something in the library, and so hurried off to the usual tapestry to meet Ted. He was already there when she arrived, and for what she knew would be the final time that term, she curled up against him.

"Romy?" Ted said quietly, stroking her hair.

"Hmm?" Andromeda replied, her heart beating a little faster.

"How would you like to come and stay for a few days with me over the holidays? I mean, at my place?" There was a pause, and obviously Ted interpreted it the wrong way, because he said swiftly, "I understand if it's too soon, or if you don't want to leave your family at Christmas…"

"Believe me, nothing would give me more pleasure," Andromeda said sadly. "Ted, I'd love to, but I don't think… I don't think I could. Not this year." She could sense his disappointment, so said quickly, turning round as she did, "But that doesn't mean I don't want to see you. Perhaps we could meet in a Muggle part of London; I'm sure I can sneak off. My aunt Walburga lives just north of the centre, and I could pretend I'm visiting her and my cousins."

"That sounds perfect," Ted said, smiling. "You let me know, and I'll be there. I'd love to show you the Christmas lights, and the tree in Trafalgar Square."

"I've never seen any of the Muggle areas of London at Christmas," Andromeda said quietly. "Mother always Floos us straight to the Leaky Cauldron, or if we're going there first, to Aunt Walburga's house; and even when we get there, we finish off by Floo."

"You've never been on the Tube?" Ted said in disbelief. "Or on a bus?"

"No," Andromeda replied. "Never."

"Well, I'll take you down there this year," Ted grinned. "That is, if you want to."

_-------------------------------_

As the Hogwarts Express arrived at Kings Cross and the students on board poured out onto Platform 9¾, dragging suitcases, owls and brooms, shouting and shrieking goodbyes to their friends, Andromeda took her last chance to look for Ted. She finally spotted him, standing talking with Gideon and Sam. When he glanced briefly her way, she tried to smile, but a lump was rising in her throat. Ted gave her the slightest of nods, almost imperceptible, and then she had to walk on, follow Narcissa through the throngs to where her mother was waiting, tall and grim, on the other side of the ticket barrier.

It was almost a surprise to find her home unchanged. As Andromeda unpacked, slowly, she wondered why everything was still the same. And then, as she pulled out the now tattered copy of _Vogue_, the very magazine which had marked the start of the journey she had been on for the last three and a half months, she realised that perhaps she was the one who had changed.

"Cissa tells me you've improved vastly since that whole Mudblood episode in September," came a voice from the doorway. Andromeda turned around and saw her elder sister standing there, her hair wild, her eyes slightly madder than she remembered them. "We all have our moments of stupidity," Bella said, casually. "It's what we do afterwards that counts, and it seems you've pulled yourself together…"

"Unless you have something else to talk about," Andromeda said icily, "please get out of my room."

"Oooh, touchy," Bella mocked. "Does poor little Romy have a crush on a Mudblood?"

"Don't use that word!"

"Why not? It's the truth," Bella sneered. "Muggleborn scum. One day, Romy, you'll see the truth, and then you'll come crawling to me like the pitiful wretch that you are…"

Andromeda pulled her wand out from the waistband of her skirt and pointed it straight at her sister. "Get out! One more word, and I swear…"

"You'll do what?" Bella said scorningly. "Hex me? Curse me? I'd like to see you try. You'll be kicked out of school without a moment's notice…"

"In six weeks time, I'm eighteen, and I'll do whatever I damn well want," Andromeda snapped, and stormed past Bellatrix out of her bedroom, striding down the stairs and out through the front door.

For about ten minutes, Andromeda hardly knew where she was heading. She strode blindly into the woods behind the house, still with her wand out. Rage was boiling up and down inside her. Initially it was merely about what her sister had said, but as she walked on, Andromeda became angry at herself for losing her temper in quite such a spectacular fashion. She loathed letting her emotions control her argument; she considered herself a rational person, and the fight with Bella had been anything but.

In the middle of the wood, Andromeda finally stopped. She sucked in a lungful of cold winter air, and sat down on a fallen tree trunk, drawing her cardigan closer around her. She pulled a crumpled piece of paper from one of its pocket, looked at it for the hundredth time and took a deep breath. _Covent Garden tube station, 2pm, December 21st_. That was all it said, and all it needed to say. "Four days," Andromeda breathed. "Four days."


	12. Tea and Teddy Boys

Only at dinner on Sunday, the night before she was due to meet Ted, did Andromeda tell her parents that she was going to London the next day.

"I've got Christmas shopping to do," she said as she sawed through the lamb chop on her plate. Druella Black looked at her daughter suspiciously.

"Why haven't you done it sooner?" she said. "Diagon Alley will be rammed tomorrow, you silly girl."

"I don't mind," Andromeda said earnestly. "Really."

"Mama, I need to go and get a few things too," Cissa said from her position across from Andromeda. "My dress robes are positively worn out." Andromeda groaned inside. Her sister could throw the whole plan out…

"Alright," Druella sniffed. "But you are to be back in plenty of time before dinner tomorrow; the Malfoys are coming over, and I simply do not want them thinking of you as wild girls who come and go as you please."

"Mother, does she have to come?" Andromeda pleaded. "I have presents to buy and I don't want her spoiling things…"

"Your sister is not a burden, Andromeda," Druella said sharply. "You will look after her tomorrow, or there will be trouble…"

It was too late to warn Ted now, Andromeda realised as she went up to bed. There was no guarantee that an owl would make it by the next morning. She would just have to give Narcissa the slip, and pay the price later. It would be worth it.

The next morning, she sat in front of the mirror for a long time, looking at herself critically from every angle. _I must look absolutely perfect_, she said to herself, _absolutely perfect._ Her clothes were one difficulty. What could she wear which would look normal in Muggle London and yet right in Diagon Alley? All these things were there to be worried over, and as she stood in front of the fireplace preparing to Floo, Andromeda sent up a silent prayer to anyone who might be listening. _Please let this all be alright. Please let it work. Please._

Diagon Alley was, as Druella had predicted, full of Christmas shoppers. Andromeda dawdled behind her sister as much as possible, but Narcissa was determined not to lose her. "God, Romy, keep up!" she kept snapping. "We haven't got all day!"

Andromeda didn't have long either, if she was to meet Ted at two. She kept looking at her watch; they had arrived in Diagon Alley just after half past one, and she had to get to Covent Garden, wherever that was. She knew it was near the Leaky Cauldron, which was on the Charing Cross Road, but she would have to ask for directions. And what if she got lost after that? No, time was of the essence; and she had to lose Narcissa as quickly as she could.

Finally, an opportunity presented itself in Twillfit and Tattings. Narcissa vanished into a changing room to try on a pair of dark green dress robes, and taking her chance, Andromeda fled the shop. She ran through the crowds of shoppers, not drawing breath until she had passed through the archway and got into The Leaky Cauldron. Then she paused, composed herself, and walked out onto the Charing Cross Road.

Muggle London was a rush of bewildering sights and sounds. Andromeda took a moment to get her bearings, then realised that she didn't have a clue where anything was, or should be, and it was already quarter to two. Eventually she plucked up courage, and went up to a man wearing a suit and a bowler hat and carrying a briefcase.

"Excuse me," she said breathlessly, "how can I get to Covent Garden tube station from here, please?" The man looked thoughtful, and then said,

"Cross over the road, take the second on the left, Cranbourn Street and keep going straight on along Long Acre. The tube station is on the right hand side of the road."

Her heart pounding wildly, Andromeda followed the directions. She tried not to look too amazed, too bewildered by everything, but the combination of seeing Ted and getting herself through Muggle London was proving to be almost overwhelming. Eventually she had to stop and chastise herself. "Don't be so silly," she said. "Pull yourself together." She walked on up Long Acre with a renewed sense of purpose, and when she saw Ted loitering outside the tube station, Andromeda knew that everything was going to be worth it.

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Ted wondered if he looked as nervous as he felt. He had arrived early, to make sure he was there when Andromeda arrived. He had wondered quite a few times in the last week whether she would be able to manage finding her way between the Leaky Cauldron and Covent Garden. But as he stood outside the tube station, stamping his feet to keep warm in the bitter cold, all his fears were assuaged by the sight of Andromeda hurrying along the street towards him. He took a moment to drink in the view. She was wearing a long, dark grey skirt, a white shirt which he suspected was one of her school blouses, and a pale blue cardigan. On top of this was a thick winter cloak, which looked a little odd. But she merely looked a little old fashioned, and there was nothing wrong with that.

"Hello, you," Ted smiled, and he leaned forward and kissed her. _She is so beautiful_, he said to himself as he looked at her delicate, pale face, flushed in the cheeks from the cold. "It's bloody freezing out here," he said, "so how about we go and have a cup of tea? There are some great little places around here."

"That sounds lovely," Andromeda said, and tentatively, he reached down and took her hand. She smiled up at him, and linked her fingers in his.

The café wasn't far. It was a little place which had once been a real greasy spoon caff, which Ted's parents had loved because it was where they always met. Ted found himself telling Andromeda the story as they walked towards the café. "My father was a real Teddy boy," he said, "which is why I was called Edward, or Ted. I'm a Teddy boy without even trying."

"What's a Teddy boy?" Andromeda asked, and Ted laughed.

"Teddy Boys were… oh, I don't know. They were sort of a youth culture movement; blokes who wore smart tailored clothes and quiffed up hair. They listened to rock and roll music, that sort of thing. And my dad was a real Cockney Ted, back in the fifties. He met my mother here, at this place, when she was with some friends, and they just hit it off."

Over steaming cups of tea, Ted began to slowly unwind. He knew that any previous worries he'd had were all down to nerves about things not working out, and yet here they were, sitting in his parents' old haunt, drinking tea as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Andromeda still looked slightly wary, but he knew it was only natural. How long, after all, had it taken him to get used to the wizarding world?

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Andromeda wasn't sure if she should pinch herself or not. The world seemed to have taken on a dream-like quality, and even here, in this slightly grimy little café in the middle of London, it felt like nothing could shatter it. Ted was sitting opposite her, talking earnestly about his life before Hogwarts, holding her hand under the table, squeezing it gently every now and again.

"Why can't every day be like this?" she sighed gently as they left the café together, heading out into the gathering gloom of the evening. "Now I've got to go home and face the music."

"They don't know where you are, I take it," Ted said, and Andromeda nodded.

"I ran away from Narcissa in Twillfit and Tattings. There's no way I can explain a three hour absence."

"Don't go home," Ted said, "come back with me. Run away from all of that, you've told me how much you hate it."

"If only it was that simple," Andromeda sighed. "It's not, though. What would I do with myself?"

"Well, you're at Hogwarts in term time. You can live with me in the holidays," Ted said. "And there's only one holiday left after this one…"

"Exactly," she said. "What will I do after that? We've got two terms left, Ted. Two! And then we're out in the world…"

"I'll look after you," Ted said seriously. "I'll always look after you." Andromeda felt so safe holding his hand, and yet she knew that it was only temporary. Oh, if only she could leave! But she had no money, and she suspected Ted didn't either; and as awful as her family were, she didn't want to leave them at Christmas…

They were at the end of Long Acre, where it joined the Charing Cross Road, and she turned to Ted. "You probably shouldn't come any further," she said. "We're quite close to the Leaky Cauldron here, and I don't want you to get into trouble."

"You mean, you don't want your family seeing you with me," Ted said firmly. "Look, Romy… I love you. I really, really love you. But I just don't understand why you put up with all of this…"

"Because they're my family, Ted," Andromeda said. "At the end of it all, they are my flesh and blood. And they're not always awful. Well, except Bella," she joked, weakly. She leaned up, and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you back at school, I expect," she said softly.

"Come here, and kiss me properly," Ted said, a little gruffly, and they stood together, kissing on the corner of the Charing Cross Road. "Promise you'll write to me before then?" Ted asked, and Andromeda nodded, trying not to cry. As they separated, she turned around and watched him walk away, and then turn around to watch her. She waved; a fragile, tentative wave, and then turned and walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron.


	13. Gilded Cage

**Author's Note**

I realised as I was writing this chapter that I'd made a fairly large error previously: saying in Chapter Ten that Andromeda was due to come of age shortly after Christmas. However, you smart people will remember that wizards come of age at seventeen, _not_ eighteen. But for the sake of continuity, let's pretend that whilst she may have come of age at seventeen, Andromeda will get all her freedom at eighteen. Apologies to JKR for ripping huge holes in her universe!

Also, many thanks for all the reviews: you keep me writing!

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It was only as she stood in front of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron that Andromeda started to appreciate what awaited her at home. She had been so wrapped up with seeing Ted that she had brushed the consequences aside; but now she stood there shaking, before finally plucking up the courage to throw her pinch of Floo Powder into the fire.

As she spun into her home grate, she saw her mother standing there, arms crossed, livid. Druella Black at her angriest was a sight to behold, and one Andromeda tried to avoid.

'Where the hell have you been?' Druella shouted at her daughter.

'In Diagon Alley…' Andromeda began, but her mother interrupted her.

'Don't lie to me! Narcissa said you ran away from her in Twillfit and Tattings; she looked for you for the rest of the afternoon.'

'Mama, I lost her!' Andromeda said, pleadingly. 'It was really busy in Twillfits, and she must have left without me realising…' Druella Black raised her hand, and slapped her daughter hard across the side of her face. Andromeda cried out in pain, and slumped to the floor.

'I don't have time to deal with you now,' Druella said coldly. 'We have guests coming for dinner in half an hour. Go upstairs and change, and remember that if you wish to still be a part of this family, you will do as I say.'

As she hurried upstairs, Andromeda met Narcissa, who was wearing the dress robes she had been trying on at Twillfit and Tattings.

'Someone's in trouble,' she smirked nastily. 'You are such an idiot. Who was it you were going to see, anyway?'

'What I was doing was none of your business,' Andromeda snapped, and pushed past her sister to her room, slamming the door behind her and locking it. She went to her dressing table and sat down hard on the seat before it, burying her head in her hands. 'Oh Ted,' she moaned quietly. 'Oh, oh, oh…'

Why hadn't she gone home with him? Why did her family still have such a hold over her? She was of age! _Perhaps_, said a voice inside her head, _you're waiting for things to go back to how they used to be._ Andromeda raised her head, and looked at herself in the mirror. On her cheek bloomed the red mark left behind by her mother's hand. The room around her seemed suddenly smaller, more claustrophobic. It was nothing more than a cage; a cage gilded with silk wallpaper and velvet hangings on the four poster bed and ancient mahogany furniture inlaid with mother of pearl… a cage from which she couldn't bring herself to escape.

_Perhaps things never will go back to how they used to be_.

-------------------------------

After a while, Andromeda shook herself out of her thoughts. She had to get dressed, and act like everything was normal. If there was one thing which was guaranteed make the situation worse, it would be disturbing the carefully planned equilibrium of her mother's dinner. She put on a pale blue tea dress, and tied her hair back. If she looked plain and neat and demure, she would fade into the background. When she heard the doorbell ring, she got to her feet, and walked slowly, deliberately downstairs.

It felt from the beginning as if everybody present was conspiring against her. Lucius Malfoy was there with his parents, Abraxas and Belladonna; and so was Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix's boyfriend. It seemed as if everybody was neatly paired off: Lucius and Narcissa, Bellatrix and Rodolphus, and there was Andromeda, by herself. Then at dinner, Narcissa said, seemingly careless in response to a question from Belladonna Malfoy as to how Slytherin house spirit was doing, 'Oh, it's never been better. But some of us wouldn't know about that.' She looked pointedly at Andromeda.

'You don't spend much time in your house, then?' Belladonna asked, surprised.

'I wish I could,' Andromeda said as cheerfully as she could, 'but I have so much work. The library is so much more conducive to work, and NEWTs are less than six months from now.'

'Oh? And what do you wish to do, when you leave school?' This came from Abraxas Malfoy. Andromeda blushed.

'I don't really know,' she said, looking at her hands where they lay in her lap. 'Perhaps… I thought about being a cursebreaker, you know. For Gringotts.'

'Don't be silly, girl,' Cygnus Black said, pouring out more wine. Turning to Abraxas, he said, 'We hope she'll follow in her sister's footsteps, and find a suitable young man to settle down with.'

'Papa!' Bellatrix exclaimed. 'It's not official yet!' From the amount of fuss she was making, though, Andromeda knew her sister was secretly pleased at what her father had just said.

'What's not official?' Andromeda said. None of the rest of her family seemed remotely surprised, and she realised angrily that she had been kept in the dark about something.

'Now's as good a time as any,' Rodolphus was saying to Bella, who looked a little pink in the cheeks. He got to his feet, and said, 'Bellatrix and I would like to announce our engagement.'

'Oh, my darling!' That was Druella Black, her hand on her heart. 'I always knew you would find the perfect husband.' Cygnus was shaking his future son-in-law's hand.

'A toast!' Abraxas Malfoy said. 'A toast to love, and the union of two great families!' Everyone at the table raised their glasses, and drank. The wine was bitter in Andromeda's mouth, and she gagged at the taste. Could she ever escape from this, from any of it?

The sole source of relief that evening came from her mother either deliberately or accidentally forgetting her daughter's earlier transgression. Andromeda went up to her room after the guests had left, and slumped down onto her bed. 'I have to get out of here,' she said to nobody in particular. 'I have to get out.'


	14. Brandy

The evening after he saw Andromeda, Ted could barely sleep. He paced his room, feeling thoroughly miserable. He knew how awful her family were; and he wondered why he hadn't put up a better argument for her to come back with him. When his sister, Lucy, knocked on his bedroom door to call him down for supper, she said in concern, 'Everything alright, Ted? You look awful.'  
'It's fine,' Ted said. 'Well, not really. It is for me, but isn't for someone else.'  
'A girl?' Lucy said slyly, and Ted nodded. He didn't mind his sister teasing him about Andromeda. 'Is she from school?' Lucy asked.  
'Yes. She's from a wizard family,' Ted said slowly. 'A really old wizarding family. They're like nobility, Lu, and they think I'm not good enough for her.'

'Does she think that?' Lucy asked, and Ted was about to shake his head, then paused.  
'I don't think so. She's never… she's never said anything about it.'  
'What's her name?'  
'Andromeda,' Ted sighed. 'Anyway, it's time for dinner, right?'

The next day passed even more slowly than Ted thought possible. He met up with old schoolfriends he'd known before Hogwarts, and was struck how different his life was to theirs. Almost all of them had left school at sixteen with only a few O-Levels to their name; and a couple of them were married and about to become fathers for the first time. Ted tried to imagine being married, but couldn't. The thought was just too strange. He could hardly imagine life after Hogwarts.

The thought came back to him as he sat in his bedroom that evening, wrapping Christmas presents. Christmas Eve was the day after tomorrow, and Ted wondered at how fast the year had gone. He had two terms left at Hogwarts – two terms! – and then he was out in the world. He picked up the pale blue scarf he had bought for Andromeda, and looked at it. What would happen to them, anyway?

When the front doorbell rang, he ignored it. It wasn't likely to be for him; probably it would be Lucy's friends, seeing if she wanted to go out to the cinema. But suddenly Lucy was knocking on his door and had opened it without waiting. 'Ted?' she said, eyes wide. 'You need to come downstairs. There's… people, at the door. They're here to see you.'  
'What?' Ted said, bemused, getting to his feet. He went down the stairs to the front door, and saw Gideon Prewett. 'Gideon?' Ted repeated. 'What are you doing round my neck of the woods? Not that it isn't a pleasure to see you, but…' He trailed off, as Gideon stepped aside, revealing a shivering, white faced Andromeda Black, wearing a long black travelling cloak.  
'I couldn't stay any longer,' she said, biting her lip, and Ted could tell she was trying desperately to stop herself crying. 'I couldn't, Ted!' Ted did the only thing he could think of; and stepped forward and hugged her. Andromeda clung onto him, weeping into his jumper.

----------------------------------

'She showed up on our doorstep at about lunchtime,' Gideon said as he and Ted sat in the kitchen. Ted had poured out some of the brandy which had been put aside for Christmas, reasoning that it was needed far more now than for setting the Christmas pudding alight. Lucy was currently looking after Andromeda in the living room, giving her hot sweet tea.

Gideon took a long slug of the brandy. 'Molly's been looking after her; she was in a fairly bad shape when she arrived. We would have come sooner, but I didn't want to turn up on brooms in daylight; and apparating isn't sensible when you don't know exactly where you're going.' He lowered his voice. 'Also, she seemed a bit confused. We wanted to make sure she was… you know. All there in the head.'

'How did she know where you lived?' Ted asked.  
'Our mother was a Black; in fact, Andromeda's father's cousin,' Gideon said. 'She said she found our address by going through her father's desk; then she got on her broom and flew to our house.' Gideon took another mouthful of brandy. 'She made us promise to bring her to you; said you'd offered to take care of her.'  
'I did,' Ted nodded. 'And the offer still stands.' There was a long silence, and then Ted asked, 'Do you know what made her leave? Because only yesterday she wanted to stay – reluctantly, yes, but she didn't want to leave before Christmas.'  
'You'll have to ask her,' Gideon said. 'I didn't ask. She might have told Molly, though. Speaking of which, Tedward, I'm afraid I must be getting home. It's a long way back on a broom.'

After Gideon had gone, Ted sat down on the stairs, his head in his hands, thinking hard. How was he going to explain this to his father?  
'I'm sorry for turning up like this,' said a small voice from the living room door, and Ted looked up to see Andromeda standing there, twisting her hands nervously. 'I just didn't know what else to do.' Ted got to his feet, and after taking her hands in his, said,  
'Don't be sorry. I know you would only do it if you were desperate to leave. What happened?'

Andromeda shuddered. 'Meeting you got me in about as much trouble as I thought it would,' she said. 'Mama hit me. Then we had dinner; and suddenly I realised I had to leave.'  
'She hit you?' Ted said, incredulous. 'I can't believe you didn't come here last night.'  
'I didn't know where you lived,' Andromeda said. 'I would have done, if I had. But I found Gideon Prewett's mama's address in my father's desk, and I went there hoping they knew where you lived. They did.'

Silence fell in the hallway in Bow. Finally, Ted said, 'You can stay here as long as you want, you know. I'll look after you. I promise.'


	15. Christmas in Bow

**a/n**: this chapter should really have been called _Christmas Fluff_ or something like that. I hope you all enjoy it.

Future plans: starting to wind things up now. I've written an outline for the rest of the story, and have written the last chapter, ending up crying on my keyboard. Heavy stuff. But the story between the end of this chapter, and the final epilogue, is yet to be fleshed out. Anyway, enjoy this bit… it's all getting a lot more positive for our star-crossed lovers!

-----------------------------------------

Andromeda could never remember a time in her life when she'd been happier than that Christmas in the East End. Ted's father, who'd come home exhausted the next morning from his shift at the factory, had waved his hand and muttered, "Can you cook?" Andromeda shrugged.

"A little," she said, frightened, thinking of the handful of times she'd cooked scrambled eggs for her sisters, or watched the house elves running around in the kitchens.

"Ah well, then," Mr Tonks winked. "Any girl who can cook is more than welcome in this house." And with that, he took himself off to bed. Andromeda looked at Ted, horrified, who was quick to reassure her.

"He's only joking," Ted said. "Lucy's a really good cook; and I do the odd bit now and again. Just help with the washing up and you'll be fine." He had given up his bed in the room he shared with Lucy so that Andromeda had somewhere to sleep, and was now sleeping on the sofa. But he had her there with him, and that was all that mattered.

Christmas Day was something of a revelation for Andromeda. Previous Christmases had meant a lavish celebration, with the house decorated from top to bottom, Christmas trees in every room, dozens of presents and a feast with the entire extended Black family present in the evening. This year, there was a small tree in the corner of the living room (not that there was room for much more) with a few baubles hanging from it, and a couple of paper chains that Lucy had made stretched across the room. On Christmas day, the whole family and Andromeda went to church in the morning, which was entirely new for her; then afterwards they sat in the living room and opened their presents.

Andromeda had just had enough time, and Muggle money, to go out and buy presents for Ted's family; she had found a new pipe for Mr Tonks, who had been complaining about his old one, a matching scarf and gloves for Lucy, and for Ted, the final Beatles album, _Let It Be_. She knew how devastated Ted had been when the Beatles broke up, and that he had not been able to bring himself to buy the album.

She herself didn't expect to receive anything, and so was greatly surprised when there were a few small packages bearing her name beneath the tree. Lucy had bought her a pretty little necklace with a moon and star pendant, and Ted's father gave her a cookery book (he winked at her when she opened it). From Ted, there was a hand drawn card, with Hogwarts on the front. Inside it he had written, _I'll give you your present later._

Then it was time for Christmas lunch, a chicken cooked by Lucy, with roast potatoes, sprouts and carrots. They sat crammed in around the kitchen table, wearing brightly coloured hats which had come from the crackers which were nowhere near as grand as wizard crackers. Andromeda sat there quietly listening to the jokes being read out, and Ted and Lucy arguing good naturedly over the little plastic prizes.

After the Christmas pudding had been eaten, Mr Tonks sat down heavily on the sofa in the living room, and flicked on the television in the corner. "Go and join Dad, Luce," Ted said to his sister. "Andromeda and I will clear up." Lucy got up and went to join her father without complaint. Ted followed her, and closed the door into the living room to drown out the sound of whatever Christmas entertainment was currently filling the screen.

Together, Andromeda and Ted washed up. There was silence between them, and eventually Andromeda thought she should break it. "I was thinking," she said, "of going back to Hogwarts a few days early. I want to ask Professor Dumbledore if I can move out of Slytherin for the rest of the year. I know there are a few rooms they keep for guests."

"I'll come with you, if you want," Ted offered. "There won't be much to stay around for here, after New Year. I was thinking, we should go into the city on New Year's Eve. There's normally a huge party in Trafalgar Square…"

"That sounds good." Andromeda was wiping a saucepan dry, but suddenly Ted took it from her hands and put it down on the kitchen table. Thinking that she had done something wrong, Andromeda turned to face him, frightened, but as he took her hands in his she knew it was something else.

"I've been thinking hard for the last few days," he said, "and there's something I have to ask you." Andromeda nodded, suddenly alarmed. Was he about to tell her that she couldn't stay here, or that after three days of her company he no longer loved her? Then suddenly, in the midst of the debris of Christmas lunch, Ted kneeled down on the kitchen floor. "Andromeda Black, will you marry me?" he said.

For a moment, Andromeda was so surprised that she couldn't breathe. "Will you marry me?" Ted repeated, and still in a state of shock, Andromeda nodded.

"Yes," she said, and suddenly a huge wave of relief and joy swept over her. "Of course, yes!" She kissed Ted blindly, knowing that this was the future forming before her eyes, the future she had hoped would somehow come clear. It was going to all be alright… she would marry Ted, dear, sweet, kind Ted, and after Hogwarts they would carve out their future together…

"I can't promise you that everything will be perfect," Ted was saying, "or even what you're used to…"

"I ran away from what I was used to for a reason," Andromeda said, a lump in her throat. "Anything is better than that, being trapped in a gilded cage with no hope of escape except through marrying some awful pureblood."

"You're escaping by marrying me instead," Ted laughed.

"That wasn't what I meant," she pouted.

"Come on," Ted said. "I think we should tell Lucy and my father."

The next few days were a blur of meeting Tonks relatives, old and young. On Boxing Day, Ted's grandmother gave Andromeda her mother's engagement ring, a single diamond set in a gold band. She had watched in tears as Ted slipped it onto Andromeda's finger, then hugged her. "You'll always be a part of our family, dearie." Feeling overwhelmed by it all, Andromeda had herself burst into tears.

"You're all so kind," she sobbed, "you're all so nice…" _You're all so unlike my actual family_, was what she wanted to say, but couldn't bring herself to say it.

It wasn't just Ted's family. Everybody was nice to her: when she and Ted went to the local pub in the evenings to see his friends, they were all friendly, always pleased to see her, and never once asked why they'd never met her before or how she had so suddenly become part of Ted's life.

The best part, though, was the time she and Ted spent alone together, often down in the sitting room late at night. They would sit on the sofa together, and talk about the future. They would get married in a quiet ceremony ("Well," Ted had said, "it won't be that quiet, you know how large my family is") at Ted's church in Bow, just after they'd both left Hogwarts. They'd have to make do with living with Ted's family for a while, until they both had jobs. It was then that Andromeda first discovered about Ted's desire to be a healer. "They pay trainees at St Mungo's," Ted said, "and it's not much, but it'll pay the rent on a bedsit round here. It'll be nice to have our own place, however small it is."

It was then that Andromeda realised that she was going to have to get a job, have a career. There was no possibility that she and Ted could subsist on his salary as a trainee alone. She hadn't intended to keep her NEWTs broad, but now she looked at them – a half NEWT in Muggle Studies in sixth year, and full NEWTs in Ancient Runes, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Arithmancy, Charms, Transfiguration – they didn't point at anything.

"I'll find something temporary," Andromeda found herself saying. "Something… oh, I don't know. Perhaps I'll become a nurse. The training isn't as long as it is for healers."

"Do what you really want to do," Ted urged, and she turned to him.

"When has that ever been a problem?"


	16. Alphard's Gift

_**a/n: **__ Many thanks for all of your wonderful reviews! _

_Freja Lercke-Falkenborg__- I have answers to your questions! _

_Firstly, British currency: before 15__th__ February 1971 it was really strange, and worked by roots of 12 rather than 10 (the decimal system normal to most countries): i.e. there were 240 pennies in a pound and 20 shillings in a pound (and therefore 12 pennies in a shilling). There were also coins like the half crown – worth 2 shillings and six pennies, and the crown, worth five shillings. A ten shilling coin was a half sovereign, and just to make it really confusing, a full pound, or twenty shilling coin, was a sovereign. "Bob" is the slang for a shilling. Hope that's vaguely understandable: I had a real time of it working out pre-decimal British currency!_

_Secondly: Andromeda and the family/career thing. Andromeda, like many young women in the late 1960s and early 1970s, has grown up with very mixed signals about what her family and those around her expect of her. Her family see her as a trophy or a prize for the highest pureblood bidder, a way of strengthening their connections with other wizard families. Whilst they would be willing for her to have a job for a brief time after leaving Hogwarts, perhaps as a secretary or something in order to meet a suitable husband at somewhere like the Ministry of Magic, having an unmarried daughter with a successful career would be almost an embarrassment for the Blacks, as it would appear to others that nobody wanted her. But, at the same time, Andromeda has been encouraged to work hard and get top grades, which give her the chance to have a career of her choice. Andromeda is very intelligent and academically driven: she wants a career, but at this stage, she also knows how unlikely it is as she is still very much under her parents' thumb._

----------------------------------------

Ted and Andromeda, afraid and defiant, made their way back to Hogwarts three days before term was due to begin. Before she did anything else, Andromeda went to see Professor Dumbledore. She prayed he would grant her request to live somewhere other than the Slytherin dormitory. As she stood before his desk, she could feel her voice shake as she described the events of the previous term and of the last fortnight, and the pressure put on her by her family. "Please, Sir," she said. "Don't make me go back to live in that house, in Slytherin. I couldn't bear it."

Dumbledore, his eyes grave, surveyed her from behind his half-moon glasses. "Miss Black," he said slowly, "it would set a dangerous precedent were I to grant your request. Would we then allow every student who disliked their house to live elsewhere?" Andromeda felt her heart sink. "But," Dumbledore continued, "I believe that in your case, an exception can, and indeed must be made. Were you to remain in Slytherin, I am certain that you would suffer not only great emotional distress, but that you might well be in danger from attacks from certain… elements within the student body. I am sure you are aware of the elements to which I refer." Andromeda nodded, relief flooding through her veins.

Andromeda's new quarters were on the third floor of the West Tower, in the guest rooms used for any outside visitors to the school. They weren't particularly homely compared to the dormitories, but they were away from the mania and the pureblood fanaticism. When Andromeda, seated between Ted and Gideon Prewett at the Ravenclaw table for the first night's dinner, met Narcissa's eyes for the first time since she had run away and saw the look of pure hatred on her sister's face, she knew she had made the right decision. All the Slytherins cut her dead over the next few days. Even Imogen – her best friend, Imogen! – ignored her in classes, in corridors, in the library.

"I'm waiting for the Howler, personally," Ted said to Andromeda over breakfast at the start of their second week of being death-stared by the Slytherins.  
"Don't hold your breath," Andromeda sighed. "I'm more than happy without one. And I suspect my family feel they don't need to waste their emotion on one; sending a Howler would acknowledge my existence."  
"Quite right," Gideon said. "They know where you are and why." Over the last few days, Andromeda had got to know Gideon Prewett, and now appreciated him properly for the first time. He was kind, funny, loyal, and honest. After life in Slytherin, where those traits (apart from loyalty) had been considered signs of weakness, it was a breath of fresh air.

Andromeda was focusing on buttering a slice of toast when _something_ came crashing down from above and sent the teapot in the middle of the table flying. She instinctively ducked; fortunately it was the end of breakfast and it was almost empty. "Bloody hell!" Sam exclaimed. "What the…" Andromeda raised her head, and saw a magnificent eagle owl sitting in the middle of the table. She vaguely recognised it; in its' beak was a letter… a letter with her name on it. Andromeda reached out tentatively and took the letter.

"At least it's not a Howler," Gideon observed from the other side of the table. Andromeda smiled weakly, and opened the letter, scanning the contents. Eventually she looked up. "It's from my Uncle Alphard," she said, eyes bright.  
"What does it say?" Ted asked when Andromeda remained silent.  
"I'll read it," she said, and keeping her voice low, read out the contents of the letter.

"_My dear Andromeda, _  
_I am writing to you upon hearing the news of your recent elopement, and wish to extend my congratulations to yourself and to your future husband. I am certain that when one runs away to marry, one has found the right person with whom to spend the rest of one's life. I hope that you will have many happy years together, and am sure that parting with the rest of your family will be a sacrifice you will not regret making. As a rather lonely soul, I wish I had taken more opportunities to seize happiness when I was younger. I know that it takes courage to take such a leap of faith; and wish to aid you by one of the few means I can. By the time you receive this, I will have made a deposit of two hundred and fifty thousand galleons into your account in Gringotts._" Ted's jaw practically hit the table; Gideon, Fabian and Sam were satisfyingly shocked. "_I am sorry not to be able to provide more moral and emotional support to you, but I am sure that your first few months at least after leaving Hogwarts will be somewhat more comfortable than they would otherwise have been._

" _I am sorry to have not been able to extend my congratulations to you sooner, but unfortunately I have been on the trail of the Abominable Snowman in Tibet, and only returned to the country yesterday._  
"_With all my best wishes for you in the future, your loving Uncle Alphard._"

Andromeda rolled up the letter, gave the eagle owl her piece of toast, and looked at Ted. "Well," she said to cover the stunned silence at the table, "it looks like the how-are-we-going-to-live-next-year problem is solved."  
"Two hundred and fifty thousand galleons?" Fabian said, raising his eyebrows. "You could live anywhere for that! Well, almost."  
"It means," Andromeda said, "that Ted can train, and I can have a job I really want, and we won't have to worry about money."  
"I thought everybody in your family had disowned you!" Sam said in amazement.

"Apparently not," Andromeda said, and tucked the letter into her skirt pocket. Suddenly she felt so much better. "Right. I'm off to Potions," she said jauntily. "Anyone want to come with me?"

--------------------------------

_The last two terms at Hogwarts flew by. In the Easter holidays, in between revising for their NEWTs in Bow, Andromeda and Ted went house hunting, and found, for two thirds of the gold Alphard had given Andromeda, a perfect ground floor two bedroom flat in West London. It had a living room with a separate kitchen and even had a garden. "Won't you be too far from Bow, all the way over this side of London?" Andromeda asked Ted. He shook his head._

"_We need our space," he said, his arm round her waist as they stood together in the kitchen of their new house. "And it's hardly even three quarters of an hour home on the tube. I wouldn't want any children we have growing up in the East End, either." Children… a warm glow filled Andromeda at the thought._

_NEWTs passed in a haze of stress and tears and aching hands. The day she came out of her last exam (Arithmancy), Andromeda met Ted in the front entranceway and threw her arms around him. "We're free now," she sobbed. "We're free."_

_The wedding in Bow took place on the first weekend in July. Andromeda wore Ted's mother's wedding dress, which was taken in to fit her by one of the many aunts who seemed to be part of the furniture at the little house in Bow. Lucy, who was to be Andromeda's bridesmaid, was a vision in palest ivory. The night before the wedding, on her own in the bunk bed above Lucy, repeating the strange vows in her head. __"I, Andromeda Elladora Black, take you, Edward Thomas Tonks, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and obey till death us do part, according to God's holy law; and this is my solemn vow." Edward. Not Ted. Somehow, having his full name there made her realise how permanent this was. This was forever, and she wouldn't have it any other way._

_The wedding seemed like a blur. She trembled as she walked up the aisle, alone; she trembled as she recited her vows and as Ted placed the ring on her finger. Then afterwards, when she and Ted emerged, blinking into the sunlight and a shower of rice, she realised that she really was no longer a Black. She was Andromeda Tonks, and she was free._


	17. Epilogue 1978: At St Mungo's

_**a/n:**_** last chapter! **Andromeda and Ted, safely and happily married in the last chapter… but now we skip forward a few years, to 1978. Brief bit of history for the intervening years: Ted went to St Mungo's and qualified as a junior healer two years after leaving Hogwarts, then as a senior healer at the start of 1978. Andromeda, after a brief spell at Gringotts, decided she actually wanted to follow her initial instincts and become a nurse. She started training at St Mungo's, but then found out she was pregnant and postponed nursing training in order to look after Dora for the next few years of her life. She restarted training in early 1976, just as the First War was beginning, and qualified in mid-1977.

So, what you have here is the final stage in Andromeda's path. Seven and a half years after leaving her family, she finally comes to understand what it all means, what the struggle between good and evil really stands for. Please read, enjoy, and review!

_**Epilogue: September 1978**_

_The day that the war spilled over into her world and touched Andromeda personally for the first time began for her like any other. She got up early with Ted, who had an 8am start to his shift at St Mungo's, and made him breakfast. As soon as he was gone she tidied the house, whizzing from room to room, her wand swishing and flicking and darting as she muttered spells under her breath. Then it was time to get Dora, dear little girl and a real handful at the age of five, up and dressed and breakfasted before her aunt Lucy arrived to look after her for the day. Sometimes Andromeda wondered what she would have done if Ted's sister hadn't been there to look after Dora – certainly she wouldn't have been able to have her job at St Mungo's. _

_Then it was a short hop across Acton Green to catch a tube from Chiswick Park; take the District Line to Victoria, and then the Victoria Line for the single stop to Green Park. On the days when the sun shone, and she wasn't late, Andromeda would walk from Victoria, past Buckingham Palace and across Green Park itself to Piccadilly. But on that day in September, she stayed underground, not wanting to cross the park in the drizzle that fell from the clouds hanging over central London._

_Andromeda, as a relatively young and newly qualified nurse, was in the middle of an extended stint on the arrivals ward; she was quick on her feet and more than capable to take care of patients who had just arrived and needed immediate treatment before they were diagnosed and taken to the correct ward. Today, though, the ward was quiet, and her first task set by the healer on duty was to make everybody who wanted one a cup of tea. _

_She was in the pantry at the end of the ward when all hell broke loose in the entrance. She emerged from the pantry clutching the huge, heavy china teapot, and when she saw the scene before her it slipped through her fingers, crashing to the tiled floor of the ward. She was already well clear of the scalding tea, sprinting down the ward to where healers were shouting orders as stretcher after stretcher was brought in._

"_What is it?" Andromeda exclaimed, and Healer Smythe turned to her. She shuddered when she saw his blank eyes._

"_Death Eaters," he said shortly. "Help me with this one." Andromeda took one end of a stretcher, and balked, for lying on it was a young wizard, no older than herself, with half of his face blown off. Stretcher followed stretcher, all carrying seriously injured wizards and witches. It was clear that something had gone horribly wrong. And then it all became suddenly worse._

_Andromeda was hurrying down the ward with rolls of bandaging and gauze, when she saw a familiar face in one of the beds. There lay Gideon Prewett, his face white, his clothes soaked in blood. "No," Andromeda moaned, "no…" She already knew how bad this attack had been, and to be lying in this particular ward, Gideon would have to be seriously injured…_

"_Gideon!" Andromeda said, rushing to his side. "Oh, Gid." Gideon opened his eyes, and looked up at her. His face was torn with pain._

"_Andromeda," he said, amazed. "Where's Fabian? He was there… he was right there beside me…"_

"_I'll go and find him," Andromeda said quickly. "I promise." She jumped to her feet and hurried to the end of the ward. "Have you seen Fabian Prewett?" she asked the healer in charge of the ward list. He looked at her, first in annoyance, then in sadness._

"_I'm afraid he's not here," he said gently._

"_Well, can you tell me which ward he's on?" Andromeda asked impatiently. "His brother's just there, and needs to know where he is."_

"_I'm terribly sorry," the healer said unhappily, and it was then that Andromeda realised the horrible truth: Fabian Prewett wasn't there because he was already dead. The healer placed a hand on Andromeda's shoulder; she looked up at him, tears turning everything into a blur. "Go to his brother, Nurse Tonks," he said. "Go to him, and keep him comfortable. He hasn't long left to live, his injuries are too severe and he's lost too much blood."_

"_Not Gideon too?" Andromeda croaked. Fabian's loss was hard enough, but Gideon? Dear, kind Gideon, who had never once failed in his duties as a friend and godfather, Gideon who had helped her escape from her family, Gideon, her husband's best man? Ted… oh god. If she was feeling like this, how would Ted feel about the loss of two of his best friends in a single day? With that, Andromeda ran from the ward to the creature-induced injuries ward where Ted worked. She had to find him, had to get him to Gideon before he died. _

_When she found Ted, who was changing a bandage on a bite victim, she finally broke down in tears. "Hey," Ted said in alarm. "What's wrong?" It was then that Andromeda realised that nobody up here had any idea of what was going on downstairs. _

"_There's been an attack," she sobbed, "and Ted, oh Ted, it's the Prewetts. Both of them! Fabian's dead, and Gideon's down on my ward…"_

"_No," Ted said firmly, shaking his head. Andromeda knew what he meant. The Prewetts were too fierily bright, too clever, too brilliantly talented to be taken away from the world. It wasn't right for two young men who had barely lived, and were destined to give so much to the wizarding world to be dead. _

_Ted took Andromeda's hand, and together they made their way down to the arrivals ward. When Ted saw Gideon, Andromeda thought that her husband might be sick. But he went to Gideon's bedside and sat beside him. "Hello, old chap," Ted said softly to Gideon, who opened his eyes again. His skin was waxy, and even paler than Andromeda remembered. His red hair stood out as a sharp, shocking contrast. For the first time, she saw the huge gashes cut deep into his body. The healer was right. There was no recovery from injuries like this._

"_Hello, Tedward," Gideon smiled, wincing as he did so. "Sorry to be such a mess." _

"_I understand," Ted said, and Andromeda could tell he was barely holding himself back._

"_Have you seen Fabian?" Gideon asked, and Ted shook his head._

"_I'm afraid…" He didn't have to say any more. Gideon closed his eyes tightly again, and when he opened them, they were fiercely bright._

"_Keep an eye on Molly for me, and all her brood. The twins are quite something already," he smiled faintly. "And take care of Dora. I'm sorry not to see… not to see…"_

_And with that, Gideon Prewett slipped quietly away to join his brother, leaving Andromeda with her head buried in Ted's robes, weeping for the Prewett brothers, for the world they had lost, and for the death of their innocence. Like so many, she and Ted had thought that they would never be touched by the war. And yet here they were, having been dealt a far crueller blow than they had ever foreseen._

_That night, as they sat together on the tube back to Chiswick Park, Andromeda wondered if she would ever feel normal again. Could she ever return to that feeling of quiet contentment she had so briefly enjoyed since Dora's birth? Molly Weasley's face would be indelibly etched on her mind, the shrill cry of grief at seeing not just one, but both of her younger brothers lying there dead. They had died like heroes, according to those who had survived the battle, deliberately placing themselves in front of those who had families, had wives and children. But whether their deaths had been heroic or cowardly, they were still dead and gone. Never again would she see Gideon Prewett tilting back on his chair at the kitchen table, drunk on Firewhiskey; Fabian's face wouldn't pop into the living room fire to see if Ted was ready to come to the Quidditch. They were gone. _

_As they left the Tube, Andromeda suddenly had a vision of Ted lying in that hospital bed instead of Gideon, dead, and shuddered. It couldn't happen. She wouldn't let it happen, would she?_

"_What do we tell Dora?" Andromeda asked as they arrived at the flat. _

"_The truth," Ted said, his voice hard. "They were killed by Dark wizards, and we can't sugarcoat it, even for Dora. She needs to know that there are good and evil wizards in this world."_

"_Dark wizards," Andromeda said bitterly, "like my family."_

"_You're not like them," Ted said firmly. "You've already made that abundantly clear, haven't you?" Andromeda turned to him, her eyes full of tears._

"_If my lunatic sister kills anyone, I will never forgive myself," she said. Bellatrix was already well known as a wanted Death Eater. "I could have stopped all this."_

"_There was nothing you could have done," Ted said. "Her course was already set. But you… you chose the right course. It hasn't been an easy one, but it was the right one." And as they sat down together on the sofa, Andromeda knew he was right._

_Later that night, Andromeda couldn't sleep. Ted was sprawled beside her, dead to the world, worn out from the day's events. But everything was chasing around in her head, and eventually Andromeda got out of bed, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. On the way past her daughter's room, she saw a thin crack of light beneath the door; and on opening it saw her daughter sitting on the rug on her bedroom floor, playing with her toys, lit by the lamp on her bedside table. Nymphadora looked up, and said, "Hello, Mummy. Will you come and play with me?" Andromeda sat down on the rug, and said gently,_

"_You should be in bed, Dora-baby. It's late." It was two in the morning. "If you go to bed now, I'll take you to the zoo tomorrow. How about that? We can get ice cream and see the elephants." The zoo was Dora's favourite place, and had always been a slightly risky gamble because of her propensity to not listen to her mother, and change her face to resemble any one of the many animals at London Zoo._

"_Mummy," Dora said, looking hard at her mother, "what's happened to Godfather Gideon?" Shocked, Andromeda could say nothing at first._

"_What do you mean?" she said, and Nymphadora frowned. _

"_I heard you and Daddy talking," she said. "About Godfather Gideon, and Uncle Fabian, and," she scrunched up her face to remember, "Dark wizards." Andromeda shuddered at how much her daughter had picked up._

"_Dora, sweetheart," she said quietly, "I'm afraid Godfather Gideon and Uncle Fabian are... they're dead, darling."_

"_Oh," said Dora, her eyes huge. "Dead."_

"_They were good, brave men," Andromeda said gently, a lump catching in her throat, "and they met some bad, evil men. They died doing what was right, Dora. It may not always be easy, taking the right path, but you must always try."_

"_I will, Mummy," Dora nodded._

"_Now darling, would you like some cocoa before I put you back to bed?" Andromeda asked, before picking her sleepy daughter up and carrying her through to the kitchen. _

_As she mixed up the hot milk and the cocoa powder, she knew that somehow, they would come through this. She and Ted had fought their battles; and they had taken the right path. They, and their daughter, would come through. And tomorrow, she would take Dora to the zoo, and they would eat ice cream even if it was raining, and then she would take Dora for a walk up Primrose Hill, and together they would look out over London, because who knew when their last day would come? Every opportunity had to be taken. Every single one. She had spent so much of her youth killing time, killing time in the seventies. She couldn't do that any more, not now she had seen death take those she knew and loved. As she tucked her daughter back into bed, and kissed her forehead, and went back to her own room, she felt the weight of the past lifting from her mind. Her future lay ahead of her, brighter and more real than ever before. She was Andromeda Tonks, and she was free._


	18. Epilogue 1998: Andromeda Alone

**Author's Note**

Just when you think you've put a story nicely to bed, along comes JK Rowling with another book, and a whole world of writing opportunities spills out before you. Before I say anything more, I must warn anybody reading that there are **_major, MAJOR_**_ Deathly Hallows_ spoilers in this fic. It is in effect a second epilogue, written from Andromeda's point of view, after the events of Deathly Hallows. It's bleak, I can tell you.

Anyway, this is definitively the last word from me on this A & T fic. I'll probably write other bits, but we shall see. Read, review, enjoy.

* * *

**August 1998****  
**

I am alone, now.

The house seems so empty without them. My husband, my daughter, and the man who was so briefly my son-in-law, all gone from me, their absence a constant ache in my side.

Then there are the worst moments of all. They surface when I find old, yellowing letters in cupboards or in the back of desk drawers, when I look at the photographs in the living room and on my dressing table.

They come to me when I'm doing the least likely things, like standing at the sink, washing the dishes. I remember how Ted always started to wash the dishes by hand, even though he could use his wand. The other evening, I stood on the landing at the top of the stairs, looking for something. I stood there in the gloom until I realised that Dora would never again leave a pile of clothes at the top of the stairs for me to wash, dry and iron with the utmost care.

In the first war, we lost so many we held dear that I knew we could never come through without losing loved ones. There is not a day that goes by without my thinking of Gideon Prewett, lying stiff and cold on the hospital bed.

----

My Ted, my beloved Ted. You saw me for who I really was, underneath that veneer born of a pureblood family. You gave me joy and laughter, you protected me, you gave me a reason to live. It is the early years that I hold dearest, before we knew loss. Those evenings in our flat when Dora was a baby, when Gideon and Fabian would come over and we would sit around the table in the kitchen, drinking and talking, keeping our own demons at bay. Those sacred, precious days in your father's house in Bow, when I had just left everything I knew behind, when you showed me that you would never give up on me and would love me forever. Those brief, snatched moments at Hogwarts, when we were alone together, defiant in the face of my family.

I don't know how I will live without you, my Teddy-boy. But I must, for another Teddy needs me.

----

Nymphadora, my beloved daughter. You never liked your name, and yet it fitted you so perfectly. You were my little nymph, with your ever-changing hair and face. I held on so tightly to you because I thought that if I let go, I would never find you again.

Do you remember those wonderful days we had together when you were young, before we moved to the country? They were always the same, but you loved them. I would take you to the Zoo, let you see the animals, try to stop you from making your face like them (oh, how I wish I had let you!). We would see the tigers, the elephants, the sea lions. You would clap your hands, beg me to let you stay there.

We would go up Primrose Hill, you in your pushchair, then skipping beside me as you grew. We would sit on the grass and look out across London together, marvelling at the city laid out before us.

It was you I marvelled at most, Dora. I marvelled at your courage, your determination, and though he is still small, I see it every day in your son.

----

Remus, my son-in-law. The first time I met you, you were the only sober boy in a house full of drunken teenagers. When Dora told me of her feelings for you, I wondered if you remembered me. Sirius's older cousin, who stayed less than half an hour at his house-warming party before leaving. I felt so terribly old and out of place. I was twenty four, married with a daughter, but you spoke to me. You talked to me, at least for a while.

And then Dora fell in love with you, twenty years later. Did you ever wonder why I said nothing, made no protest? Even had I not known you, I knew my daughter, knew that any man she chose to love would be the right man.

I have never seen Dora as happy as I saw her on the day you were married, with one exception: the day your son was born. I only wish that you had lived to see him grow up.

----

As I sit in the twilight darkness of the living room, I hear him cry. I hear my grandson crying in his room; little Teddy. When I reach his cot, he has already fallen quiet again. His hair is bright pink, just like his mother's was. This is my reason for living. Little Teddy is a legacy of so much: a living symbol of tolerance and unity.

"Oh, little one," I say quietly. "My daughter's little Teddy. I wish… I wish… I wish for you to live in a world which never repeats the mistakes of mine. I wish for a world in which you will never know prejudice."

He stares up at me, with his father's eyes. I feel the tears rising up in mine. "Perhaps tomorrow we'll go to the zoo," I whisper. "Get on a train to London and go to the zoo. Then we can go up Primrose Hill together, and look out over London." A lump has formed in my throat. "Then one day, when you're older… I'll take you to the East End, show you where your grandfather Ted was born."

The baby gurgles, still staring up at me. Though I have lost one Ted, one reason to live, I have been given another.

As I tiptoe from his room, I can see the sun setting through the landing window. The pain will never go away, but I must remain. I must continue living. As if in a dream, I can see myself on Platform 9¾ that September day when I met Ted for the first time. So much of life is chance. So much is fate. I have a chance now, with Teddy; I must embrace fate. I am Andromeda Tonks, and I shall endure.


End file.
